Hidden Interactions
by YAYAY317
Summary: Nick and Madison were always attracted to each other from the beginning. See what their interactions each meant as they go from acquaintances to friends and perhaps more.
1. Broken Spell - First Meeting

Disclaimer: Don't own the Power Rangers (hope that's not a surprise to you)

AN: This fanfic was inspired by the fact that I felt that Nick and Madison should have interacted more on screen. There was good romance potential in episodes 2 and 4, which went flat until series finale. There was a lot of potential for this relationship to be very sweet and cute (seeing that the real life actors actually dated briefly).

Also, this fanfic will focus more on Nick, Madison, their thoughts, and their perspective. So Chip, Xander, Vida and other characters will come but you won't know what their thoughts are exactly.

So far, I plan to do broken spell, rock solid, whispering voices, stranger within, ranger down, the hunter, and mystic fate. Probably looking 15-20 chapters

Hidden Interactions

Summary: Nick and Madison were always attracted to each other from the beginning. See what their interactions each meant as they go from acquaintances to friends and perhaps more.

Chapter 1 Broken Spell II/First Meeting

" normal conversation"

 _'thought'_

" **flashback "**

 **Return to Rock Porium**

The group minus Nick had just landed from the tree outside Rock Porium using magic. After dismissing Toby's ridiculous thoughts of them falling from the tree, the group headed back inside for work except one who lingered a bit pondering something.

 _'I hope Nick makes it back safe from the woods.'_

Looking around, Madison finds Nick's bike by the tree and thinks ' _He'll come back for it. Maybe if I talk to him while at his bike I can get him to believe in magic or help out. Knowing my friends, we are going to need all the help we can get. Vida's too stubborn, Xander's naive, Chip is well... uh... Chip, and I'm not direct like Nick. I don't know why but Nick is special. Out of all of us, he was the one who came first to help that old man. We wouldn't have gone to help him if Nick hadn't gone.'_

"Hey Maddy. Stop daydreaming and come back in to work." yelled Vida. She gestured to the door.

Shocked and blushing, Madison replied, "I wasn't- um - Sorry about that sis. I was thinking about something. It's a lot to take in recently." ' _I was about to deny that I wasn't daydreaming about Nick.'_ The thought embarrasses her.

Vida laughed "Well, don't think about it now. Think about it later tonight. And we have plenty to talk about later tonight" She gives Madison a stare that referred to their newfound powers.

Madison laughed in relief and replied "Yeah, that would be good." _'Phew, she thought I was talking about being rangers.'_ Looking back at the tree and bike, she sees Nick coming back and smiles in relief. "Hey. I'm going to try talking to Nick." pointing to him. "We're going to need all the help we can get to save the world."

Vida nods, slightly surprised with Madison's courage to talk to a stranger. "Good luck with that. He seems stubborn, but we are going to need help seeing that we have Xander and Chip and their silly antics. Might get us killed one day. Nick seems like he can help keep them in line."

Madison nods and laughs. She starts walking shyly to Nick. Vida notices and turns back. Deciding not to think not too much of it, she smiles happy that her sister was willing to talk to someone to help and hopefully breaking out of her shell.

 _'Ok here goes. Let's hope this works.'_ She thought before greeting him.

"Hey there." Madison approaches Nick who had just reached his bike and went immediately to work. She stands, playing with her feet.

Unaware, Nick looks up and smiles back, saying "Hey." while thinking _'Oh, it's the cute one. What does she want?'_

"Sure could use your help back there". Madison responded back, hoping that she sounded encouraging with a smile.

 _'Oh. That'_ "Wasn't sure if there was anything I could have done" He replied, not sure what to say exactly.

A little sad at the response but not discouraged, she continued "So, while we're out in the world fighting evil, what are you gonna do?," stressing the world and evil. She looks at him with a questioning gaze as if to say what could be more important than that.

Oblivious to her questioning gaze and the stressed words, he replies, "Well first, I'm gonna fix my bike, then I'll head to my grandparents' and see if I can live there, instead of with my sister in Briarwood." He is a little surprised at himself for telling so much about him.

Madison grimaces. "No parents?" She felt sorry for the young man.

"Oh… you are nosy!" He sees her laugh and look down. He continues "Yes, I have parents. They're working overseas for a few years. I was living with my cousins for a while, then my uncle, now my sister."

"Must be hard, leaving friends all the time" she remarks, not knowing what to do if she left her friends.

Nick laughed. "I usually don't stay around long enough to have friends."

Hearing that, Madison was shocked and realized how lonely he must be; she felt worse than before and decides to maybe help him stay.

"You know, you could." Nick looks up hopefully.

 _'Never thought about having friends. Does she want to be my friend?'_ Nick is surprised; he never felt wanted before. He ponders more _'I never stayed long enough to have good friends or even a girlfriend.'_

Madison thinks _' Poor guy always on the move. Maybe he needs a good reason to stay like friends or a girlfriend',_ blushing at the thought and what it could imply _._ She continues to dismiss her thought. "I mean, you could stay somewhere longer, you know, like… here, maybe." _'Ok now I sounded really desperate. Calm down Maddy.'_

Nick hesitates. _'I never had an opportunity to stay in one place. But I need to get away from this place'_ "I'd love to hang and talk to you all day, but I've still got a lot of work to do on my bike, and–"

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry. I just-I was–I was trying…um… I'm gonna leave you to it." Madison turns away, hurt and embarrassed about what had transpired, and walks away before she could embarrass herself even more, facepalming a bit.

Nick feels guilty. _'Man I feel like.. no I was rude to her. She's been really nice to me. I just don't think I can help out with saving the world.'_

"Hey, look." She turns around. Quickly, moving her hand out of her face.

"I–I really appreciate what you're trying to do–trying to say". Madison looks a bit more hopeful.

However, Nick continues, "But I guess I'm just not cut out for this magic stuff like you guys." Madison rolls her eyes as if to comment and we are. A thought occurred to him _'Maybe you don't believe in yourself but she does.'_ He quickly dismisses that thought but remembers a response earlier that day.

Flashback

Nick had just explained that magic didn't work for him against the creatures as it did for the others.

" **Try believing again. Maybe it didn't catch on the first time**." Madison said hopefully. [1]

End Flashback

He shook his head at thought and chose to ignore it. "But, good luck." He really did mean that. He was pretty sure that saving the world wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Yeah, you too."

Not sure what to do, she points disappointingly at his bike, then turns around again and walks away. _"Well guess that didn't work out. I really thought he would help."_

Nick watches her go, a sad look on his face. _'We just met. But why do I feel that she really wanted me to stay and help out. How could someone, a stranger, believe in me even though I don't believe in myself?'_

With that, he goes back working on his bike, trying to ignore the disappointment and guilt he felt.

Chapter End

AN: Please leave reviews, comments, and suggestions.

[1] She actually says this at the end of the first episode.


	2. Broken Spell - After Battle

Chapter II Broken Spell II Part 2/After First Battle

AN: I don't own Power Rangers anymore. I threw my MMPR white ranger action figure away because I grew up. I do own this story.

Oh you're talking about the show and company, No, I never owned that at all.

Story Notes: This story is going to have mostly incanon scenes with Nick and Madison thoughts. Some changes will be made.

I'm going to skip stuff around episodes and fights but will try to give some context to help understand plot. There are parts I don't want to write, but hopefully it will still be clear as to what's going on.

"normal conversation"

 _'thought'_

" ** _Flashback"_**

Chapter II Broken Spell II/After First Battle

After Koragg's Battle

Nick is driving, going to his sister's home from Rootcore. _'Wow. This is incredible. Magic exists after all. I'm a power ranger. I can't believe I almost missed this opportunity. I met teammates who I would like to, hopefully one day, call friends'_

At that particular word, he thinks back to a conversation that happened earlier today.

" **I usually don't stay around long enough to have friends."**

" **You know, you could"**

He smiles, thinking back to that conversation. ' _Hmm... Could I stay long enough for friends and maybe – nah. Right now, friends sound pretty good, and it's what I need.'_ He changes his mind . Instead of going home, he decides to go to Rock Porium instead to get to know his teammates and hopefully future friends better.

 _'Friends. Hmm. Well Chip's interesting. He's like a kid, childish, but good. Xander is a bit full of himself but that's just an act. No one can possibly be that selfish.'_ Little did he know how wrong he was about that last part.

 _'Vida's tomboyish but she looks out for people. I didn't really have many people looking out for me. It was always just my adopted family and even then they didn't want me that much after a while.'_

He paused at that thought. _'What happens if, no WHEN, because we will beat the darkness, is our friendship over? Do I leave?'_

He stopped riding a bit to consider. ' _But I don't think I could stay unless I had something or someone to stay for.'_ He closed his eyes to consider more and remembered a sentence from an earlier conversation.

" **I mean, you could stay somewhere longer, you know, like… here, maybe"**

He chuckled. _' Unless Madison...'_

He stopped at the thought, slightly confused where this was going. _'Madison is cute but I just met her. I doubt she's interested in me. She believes in me, but I'm pretty sure she didn't mean that she was interested in me.'_ He felt uneasy saying that and sighed. _'Great. Do I have a crush on her now? I just met her. Sure, she's nice, pretty, sweet, shy, nosy but in a cute way, super cute... Ok I listed a lot and I defended her nosiness. I'm just attracted to her. But a crush isn't someone to stay for. Unless...'_

Nick pauses again. _'I don't think I should finish that thought. I'll decide what happens after all this, when we win.'_ He smiled and continues to Rock Porium.

As he reaches his destination, Madison is sweeping outside and waves to him. Seeing her wave, he remembers how they both ended their earlier conversation. He didn't like feeling disappointed and considered how she must have felt something similar. Normally, that's something you don't apologize for but Nick felt that he had to. It felt like something his sister had given him advice for.

Nick parks his bike and says "Hey".

Madison, happy to see him, greets him back. "Hey. What brings you here? I thought you were going back to your grandparents." She teases him.

Nick, seeing her smile a bit, teases back. "Well, I thought you know I could help someone or some people help them fight evil and save the world, seeing that they had a hard time."

Madison rolls her eyes "Oh. Well you know we don't really need you. We would have won eventually. Also, we're cleaning up the store now. We can't possibly have a hard time doing that"

Nick, enjoying their little banter, continued "Haha coming from you. Who, by the way, asked me to help out."

Madison pouts. Nick smirks but couldn't help think _'That was cute.'_

"Anyways, I came to say well I'm here to stay for now." Nick sees her confusion and remembering their conversation "To help fight. I don't know if I'll stay around after because of friends but-" _'Why did I say that last sentence?'_

"Is that it?" Madison questioned, not realizing she sounded a little hurt and disappointed.

Sensing that and remembering what he needed to do, Nick continued, "Well. I also wanted to say -"

Chip comes outside, noticing Nick, and yells. "Hey Nick! Come inside! Hang out with us!"

Nick smiles at Chip, not minding the interruption. "Sure. Thanks Chip!"

Chip runs back in as he needs to sweep inside. Madison looks inside quickly and turns around again, questions Nick "To say?"

Nick was a little confused at first but continued saying "Thanks and sorry about earlier today." Madison gives a blank stare, not realizing that sentence made her feel a lot better.

She asks, "For what? And I don't think there's anything you need to apologize for. I wasn't offended by anything. Besides, you saved us in the end."

Smiling, he continues, "Thanks for believing in me and sorry for making you feel frustrated. I never had anyone believe in me. I knew what you were trying to do. Your encouragement helped."

Smiling and blushing at his response, she replied. "Well, that's what friends are for. Let's go in."

"Sure. I won't stay for long. Have to go back to my sister's place. She gets worried if I'm gone for too long, and I just got to Briarwood today." He went in ahead of her.

Hearing the first sentence, Madison froze remembering two sentences from their earlier conversations.

" **I usually don't stay around long enough to have friends."**

" **Anyways, I came to say well I'm here to stay for now... To help fight. I don't know if I'll stay around after because of friends but -"**

She sighed. Now she remembered why she felt bad earlier in the conversation. She was worried about him. ' _Someone like Nick shouldn't be a loner. What can make him stay? It would be nice for him to stay. Alright, stop it Madison why do you care so much?'_ She is confused by her thoughts and goes in.

Inside the Rock Porium, the teens are trying to clean up from the earthquake earlier. Xander walks past Nick, who just picked up a magazine and started reading it.

"Hey Nick, now that we're a team, do you feel like helping?" Xander wonders.

"I fight soulless mutants. I don't clean." Nick says as if to say he's here just for business. Madison heard that and looked scared as it confirmed her previous fears.

"Then move out of the way, bucko," Vida walks past Nick, bumping him.

A little annoyed at the rude gesture, he says, "Okay… but as a wise old woman once asked: do you believe in magic?"

"You think?" replies Xander, knowing his implications to use magic to help clean the store.

Nick nods, grinning

"Well… I believe," Madison pulls out her cell, and aims at the comics on the floor, which begin to pick themselves up neatly on the shelf. "Cool!"

"It works! Sweep like lightning!" Chip exclaims and a broom sweeps.

Xander floats the trash bags out the back door, and Vida cleans up the CDs. All the stuff is being cleaned up magically.

"Hurry! Someone's coming!" Nick warns.

Toby comes through the door, "Okay I knew you wouldn't–ah- oh. You would. It's clean. Very clean. It's the cleanest its ever been. Maybe it's… it's lost its edge! Have I become a megashop?" Toby bites his fingers nervously and confused how fast it was clean.

A blonde girl who looked like a snob walked in and said "Hello? I'm new in town. Can somebody help me?"

"That'll be me." Xander offers and runs up.

"No, no, me!" Chip interrupts and follows.

The stranger leads them on as if making a decision in picking who should help her.

"Hm… I want… him!", pointing toward Nick.

Nick looks up confused and says, "Sorry, I don't work here."

Madison, thinking quickly on her feet, says, "You know, Toby, you really gotta hire this guy, because he was instrumental in cleaning the store." _'Here's a chance to help make him stay longer. Toby doesn't fire anybody really. Good job Madison.'_ feeling a little proud of herself for solving the problem.

Nick growls at Madison, "Wait! I wasn't looking for a job." _'I don't have time for -'_

Toby interrupts Nick's thoughts and asks, "Who's the greatest guitarist ever?"

Nick, confused, answers back,"Well, its–its gotta be Jimi, but–"

"You're hired!" Toby exclaims, clueless to their conversations and thoughts.

"Okay" Nick said incredulously.

Toby shakes Nick's hand. "Now help the customer." pushing Nick toward her.

"My name's LeeLee Pimvare. And yours?" trying to flirt with him.

"I'm in trouble." _And it's no thanks to Madison'_

All the rangers laugh at Nick. Nick glared at all of them, one in particular.

Nick looked more closely at Madison because it was her fault how he fell into this predicament. Sensing this, Madison looked at him with a look that said I'm doing this for your own good and shyly turns away.

Nick was puzzled. But remembered what she had said earlier today.

" **I mean, you could stay somewhere longer, you know, like here, maybe."**

Although he was still confused what that statement could mean, he smiled. Maybe it will be good for him to have a job. He gets to spend more time with his new friends and know them better, particularly a certain blue ranger.

Unknown to them both, this began their hidden interactions.

Arc 1 Finish

AN: Alright, there goes this arc. I hope this arc set up the story well. Next arc is Rock Solid, which will be fun to write but also pretty tough. It might take a while to finish. This chapter came early because I had wanted to combine this chapter with the previous chapter, but decided to make it clear with the scene changes.

Thanks for the reviews, views, and follows. It's encouraging. I don't mind some critique to also improve as a writer even though writing fanfiction is for fun, and I don't plan on writing professionally.


	3. Rock Solid - What a Hobby Reveals

Chapter III Rock Solid/ What a Hobby Reveals

Disclaimer : Don't own the power rangers. If I did, some plot would actually happen.

AN: Thanks for the reviews! They were encouraging and helped me finish this chapter. Maybe it was a little rushed, but I'm satisfied. This update was slow because it was hard for me to write (slight writer's block and visiting people for health reasons). Also, some edits were needed because I didn't like what I wrote, didn't like the direction of the story going somewhere else, so here is the version I am most satisfied with.

Alright, here's the start of Rock Solid, the episode where Madison gets turned to stone and the only episode of the season to focus on Nick's and Madison's relationship.

Chapter III Rock Solid/ What a Hobby Reveals

"normal conversation"

 _'thoughts'_

" **Flashback conversation"**

Morning

Driving to work, Nick smiles, happy he's here at Briarwood. He's actually looking forward to seeing his friends. ' _It's not so bad having friends. They all have unique hobbies, but it shows their personality and values. Chip loves comic books, which shows how silly and funny he is. But he loves superheroes, which shows he likes all the characteristics they should have. Xander likes his board just as much as I like my bike. It shows how adventurous he wants to be and willingness to be brave to do tricks. Vida likes DJing which shows fun and creativity. And Madison...'_

He pauses and catches his breath. He couldn't help but laugh. He liked hanging out with her, but there was a pet peeve of his, being filmed by her.

 _'And Madison,'_ he continued his thoughts _'Madison likes filming people.'_ He frowned though remembering how many times he's been recorded. _'It's annoying being filmed. I like showing off, but Maddy should have fun herself. She shouldn't be living under the shadow of someone else. She should go have fun herself and not hide from the spotlight. She's shy. Maybe there's a way for her to be – I don't know- spontaneous'_

He arrives. Looking forward to his friends' antics except being filmed, he smiles and walks in. It was always an interesting day at Rock Porium.

Unfortunately, he first saw LeeLee inside. He shuddered, remembering how annoying and snobby she was. She kept pestering about going on a date with him while always talking about how great or pretty she was compared to everyone else.

Nick shook his head. Leelee wasn't as great as she thought she was. Leelee definitely wasn't as pretty as -.

His thoughts were interrupted as LeeLee said, "Hi Nick. You wanna go out on a date with me" snobbishly.

Inwardly, he groaned. He would rather fight Necrolai and Koragg by himself than go out with LeeLee. At least fighting both of them had the possibility of him destroying them. Albeit, he knew he was going to wake up the next morning with bruises if he even survived.

He frowns, "I have work right now and then I have to go work on my bike." _'And probably will also fight some monster later today'_ not voicing his last thought for secretive reasons.

Angered by his rejection, she snaps, "Yeah right," sarcastically. "But you take off with all your friends doing work. You guys are so irresponsible."

He sighs, "Now's not the time." Annoyed at her, he slammed the door to Toby's office to start checking files. Annoyed at Nick, Leelee continued to look around for music, thinking of a way to get Nick's attention and maybe a date.

2 minutes later

Madison looks around after filming Toby. She had filmed everybody but not a certain red ranger.

"Hmm where's Nick?", she wonders around. Noticing Toby's office, she opened the door and smiled when she saw him and said "Gotcha." She giggles at Nick's irritated face.

Still annoyed at Leelee, Nick groaned, "Oh no. Get that thing away from me." _'Great, I don't want to deal with this now'_

"Oh come on Nick. Don't be shy.", Madison teased, oblivious to Nick's discomfort.

 _' Oh, she did not just call me shy.' "_ Me. I'm not the one that's always hiding behind that camera." Nick replied back.

"I'm not hiding." Madison stops filming and looks hurt, dejected, and self-conscious.

Nick sees but doesn't realize how she feels. "I've watched you Madison. You're so busy filming other people having fun that you don't go out yourself."

"I have fun", as Madison walks away. _'Nick doesn't get it. Filming is fun for me'_

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"When's the last time you went out there and did something different? Something spontaneous?" Nick throws an orange at her.

"Spontaneous?"

Nick nods.

"Okay. Yesterday I went to buy toothpaste. I always buy peppermint, and I thought no. I'm gonna do something different, and I bought wintergreen"

"Wintergreen?" Nick questioned, as if he couldn't believe it. _'Haha, that sounds kind of lame.'_

"Yes. Wintergreen." Madison gives up. _'I sound so stupid. Maybe Nick was right.'_

Realizing that he was right, Nick joking said, "You're a wild woman all right" Taps on her head playfully. "Whoo! She's a wild one!" Nick leaves the office to start organizing cds.

As Madison notices him leave, she thinks _'Hey. I'm busy here with ranger business too.'_ She follows him outside to defend her lack of spontaneity and says "Hey."

Nick looks back. Madison goes in front of his face and retorts "It just so happens that defending the world takes most of my time here." _'There. Now let's see what he says'_

Nick nods but knows better than what she means. "Uh huh, that's just an excuse. You're too shy to put it out there". He leaves.

Madison angrily says "I am not too shy." Nick is too far ahead too hear. Unaware of Leelee, who was listening to their conversation, Madison ponders in thought, reflecting what was said recently. Leelee decides to jump in the conversation as a way to side with Nick and hopefully get Nick's attention.

"Yes you are. Please the last time you went out, those shoes were in."

Annoyed, Madison huffs, "No one asked you Leelee." _'Seriously, Leelee should mind her business. This was between me and Nick.'_

Leelee scoffs. "Ok fine. If you want to be a timid shoe gazer far be it from me to stop you."

 _''Why are people ganging up on me now?'_ "I'm going for a walk." _'I need to leave. I can't deal with Leelee and Nick right now.'_ Madison quickly leaves. When she was outside, she quickly ran off to a place where she could think and calm down unaware of the danger, she would be in later.

 _Some time later [1]_

 _Back at Rootcore_

The Rangers came in with a Madison statue. She had gotten turned into a statue by a monster in the park. They were hoping that Udonna could cast a spell to turn her back to normal. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

The team was visibly upset about this, especially Vida. When Nick revealed that he made fun of Madison's shyness earlier, Vida quickly turned to Nick saying, "Man, you don't know my sister. She may be shy on the outside, but inside she has the heart of a warrior."

Nick scoffed, "Right. That's why she's busy hiding behind that camera." sarcastically. He was going to defend himself.

Vida angrily retorts "You are so clueless", upset about him looking down at her sister. She uses magic to play her sister's videos.

Nick decides to humor her and just watch the video. However, as the video played, he was captivated by it. He was impressed with the quality and the cuts made. As the video played, he realized the narrator, who was Madison, always complimented people and showed the best side of people.

When it got to him, he was surprised when he heard this coming from Madison.

"And then there's Nick, the new guy in town. We don't know much about him yet, but I can feel it. He's something special."

Those words repeated inside his being, and he felt guilty about making fun of Madison when he shouldn't have. Hearing the last sentence also made him feel warm. He felt regret and sighed. _'Madison trusted me and has been my first friend in this town. And I treat her like this... She probably hates me now.'_

Udonna, their mentor,who was also watching the video, said as the video finished "Everyone has a different way of expressing themselves. Maybe Madison expresses herself best through films."

Nick contemplated this. He stared at the video. _'Udonna's right. The editing took a lot of time, meaning she's diligent and pays attention to great detail. She also made everyone in the video look pretty cool. She's selfless and compassionate, not caring about herself but others to make them look good. She doesn't care about having fun herself; she would rather see other people having fun. I can't believe I called her film annoying and shy.'_

He remembers parts of their conversation earlier today with a new perspective.

" **I'm not hiding." Madison stops filming and looks hurt, dejected, and self-conscious**.

He winces thinking about her pained look. She wasn't hiding; she chose to show people's good sides.

" **I have fun," as Madison walks away from Nick.**

Nick winces again, realizing that she has fun showing off people than herself.

Nick, feeling more guilty and realizing what filming meant to her, thinks _' Yeah. I'm an idiot. I'm going to fix this. For Madison.'_

"You're right. I was clueless" Nick looks towards Madison, still encased in stone, and walks toward it. "I shouldn't have gone off shooting my mouth out. I'm gonna get you out of this Maddy. I promise." With newfound resolve, he was going to find the monster and destroy it to turn Madison back to normal.

Chapter End

AN: Just saying, this arc isn't done. I have the next chapter planned out and just need to start writing it. Hopefully, I finish it in 2 days from now. It's kind of tough to write but I think I got how I wanted the story to go.

[1] If you are wondering exactly how Madison turned to stone, it happened exactly like in the episode. To summarize, she runs into a park and thinks about not being shy. She sees a cute boy and wants to flirt to prove Nick wrong but chickens out. They do start talking however, and the monster attacks. The monster attacks Madison, who pushed Ben out the way, and turns her into a statue. The team then arrives.

I didn't like writing that scene so I just left it out.

Please leave a review!


	4. Rock Solid - Apology

Chapter IV Rock Solid/ Apology

Disclaimer: Nope. Still don't own the power rangers.

AN: Well, thanks for the reviews! They're pretty encouraging. Glad you guys like the story so far.

This chapter still is part of Rock Solid, just with some of my changes. Read what I actually changed and find out. To the one guest review, the one scene where Madison talks to Ben is in this chapter. Just didn't want to combine it and had a hard time writing/developing this chapter.

Chapter IV Rock Solid/ Apology

"normal conversation"

 _'thoughts'_

 **"Flashback conversation"**

After Monster Fight (and Madison is no longer a statue)

Just before the gang heads back to work, Nick halts and says, "You guys go on ahead. I need to make a formal apology to Madison."

Madison smiles, "Don't worry about it Nick. I said it before. Let's just forget about it." She knew that Nick learned his lesson.

Vida looks on and says, "Listen to him Maddy. We'll leave you guys alone." She was happy that Nick was going to apologize and knew it was better for this to be private. The rest of the gang nods in understanding and heads in to work. Madison looked to Vida to question why the need of privacy. Vida just smiled and gave a look that said wait and see.

As Vida walked in, she remembered Nick's promise.

"" **I shouldn't have gone off shooting my mouth out. I'm gonna get you out of this Maddy. I promise."**

As Vida reflected the way Nick promised, she felt there was something special about that promise. Although Vida knew that Nick got Madison in danger, she felt reassured that Nick wouldn't hurt her again. It felt like there was some hidden feeling in that promise. Vida felt it was best to let them interact and see what happens. She wasn't sure but she felt that maybe something good would come out of this.

Left alone with Nick, Madison was a bit tentative. She was a forgiving person but didn't really see why Nick needed to apologize again. She looked to Nick to start.

Realizing her attention was on him and just her, he started. "I just wanted to say sorry. And I was wrong. Your filming doesn't make you shy. It makes you - "

Madison interrupts as if to defend. "I am shy though. I couldn't even talk to the cute boy I saved from being turned to stone."

Nick stops for a moment but continues on. "So what if you're shy. Your filming shows you are compassionate and selfless." Madison is shocked. Looking at her, he continues, "I saw the tape. Vida showed it. You make all of your friends look cool and good." He looks away remembering the last phrase he heard about himself.

Madison, blushes, "It's really nothing. It's just-"

"You have fun making us look good. It's amazing. You even made Chip, who's normally a geek, look cool." He laughs. She joins laughing with him. After they stopped laughing, he continues, "I'm sorry for making fun of you or your film. I shouldn't have said those mean things in the first place." _'Alright, that's it.'_

Appreciating Nick's apology more, Madison smiled, touched by his sincere apology and the previous compliment. "Apology accepted. Let's go back in."

Breathing in again, he asked "Thanks. Are we cool now?"

Madison laughed, "Yeah. We are." _'We were cool even before this apology. It's nice that he went out of his way to apologize that much.'_

Letting go a breath he didn't know he held in, he replied. "Good to know" _'She's really forgiving. I thought she was going to hate me now.'_ Remembering something Madison said earlier, he joked "So you were too shy to talk to a cute boy at the park."

Slightly embarrassed, Madison turns away from him. She could hear the teasing tone in Nick's voice and knew that Nick didn't mean to hurt her. Nick laughs and says, "Don't worry. I'll help you get out of your shell. You're a great person. Let's get to work"

They both went in to start working.

A few minutes later

While working, Madison bumps into Ben, the handsome boy she saved from turning to stone.

"Hi." He greets kindly.

"Hey."

"I've been looking all over town for you, Maddie. I just wanted to thank you for what you did earlier." Ben said eagerly.

"Oh, it was nothing." Madison turns away, embarrassed about the praise. After all, it was ranger work.

"Are you kidding? It was brave. Before it happened, I was gonna ask you out. But I guess I was too shy."

"You were? Really?" Madison laughed at the irony.

"Ya. So what about it?"

Madison hesitates. _'Why am I hesitating? Ben is cute and I wanted to flirt with him earlier. Why am I unsure now? I guess I'm still shy.'_ She starts walking away backward, but she hits someone. She turns around to apologize only to see Nick before stopping

Earlier, Nick noticed Madison talking to a boy and assumes it's the one she saved earlier. He quickly decided to help Madison out seeing that he knew that Madison was still shy to talk. It turns out he went at the right time seeing that Madison walked right into him.

 _'Ouch. That hurt. But, she was about to chicken out again. I'm gonna help her.'_ Nick thought as he was bumped by Madison. As Madison turned to him, he was caught off guard, mesmerized by how she looked. He soon caught himself staring for too long and decided to help her.

He pushed her back forward.

Madison looked back and gave a questioning gaze, a look that clearly asked him what was he doing.

Seeing the confused look, Nick pointed his head toward Ben and gave a smile that he hoped to encourage her to try and go out with the boy.

Madison was momentarily confused but remembered their earlier conversation.

" **Don't worry. I'll help you get out of your shell."**

Encouraged, Madison nods her head as thanks and starts walking forward toward Ben.

Smiling at her, Nick turns away with mixed emotions. _'I'm happy that she's going to talk to him. But at the same time, I feel sad. Ugh. Maybe I don't want her talking to someone else.'_ He shakes his head at those thoughts and walks towards Vida's dj table.

He looks at Madison and Ben and states, "Looks like Madison is coming out of her shell." He says that to distract himself.

Vida had seen the whole scene and laughed earlier. She decides not to mention it yet and states "If he hurts her, he has to deal with me," while looking at Nick.

Nick laughs "Don't worry. She can take care of herself. Oh look here, she comes now," preparing himself for the news.

Madison shyly walks forward toward them with a smile on her face. They look expectantly to hear how it went.

"I got scared so I didn't talk to him." _'I'm kind of lying but still'_

Vida laughed as if she expected it to happen. Nick was relieved but quickly voiced confusion. "What? Why?"

Madison blushes and says "It's hard to change. Besides, I'm busy with ranger stuff."

Nick laughed. He heard that excuse before. "Alright, maybe next time." He excused himself to go organize the front, leaving the Rocca sisters.

Vida, after making sure Nick wasn't looking back, looked at Madison. "Really? So what really happened?"

Madison looked surprised. She stammered, "What? Nothing happened."

Vida looked at her and said "I'm your sister. I know you well enough. Maybe you like someone else?"

Madison quickly denied that. "No. I am too busy."

Vida looked at her disbelievingly and just laughed. She starts her djing and Madison starts cleaning the back room. Vida looks between Nick and Madison again and smiles. She remembered what she had said earlier.

" **If he hurts her, he has to deal with me"**

She laughs, knowing that Nick thought she meant Ben. In reality, the 'he' she was referring to was actually Nick. She was going to have fun with this later.

While Madison was cleaning the back room, she thought, _'Why does my sister have to know me well?'_

 **Flashback 5 minutes ago**

After being nudged forward by Nick, Madison walked forward toward Ben.

 _'Alright, Madison. You can do this. You can talk to Ben and go on a date with him.'_ Madison paused at that thought as if uncomfortable. _'Why do I feel so uneasy? Am I scared? He offered, all I have to do is accept.'_

Suddenly, she's in front of Ben again who was looking at other CDs. Ben stopped looking and asked hopefully, "You never said whether you wanted to go out with me."

Madison pauses. _'I don't know why but I can't say yes. It's as if I don't want to go.'_

Seeing the hesitation, Ben sighed. "Is there someone else? Someone special? It's ok to say it. I won't be hurt."

She was about to reply there wasn't but remembered she described someone as special.

 **"I can feel it. He's something special."**

She remembered who she had described. She felt bad, smiled sadly, and nodded. She apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lead you on." _'I don't know what to say. I also have to figure out these feelings.'_

Ben laughed. "I don't think you did. Well tell him, he's a lucky and a special guy. Take care." It was too awkward for him to stay, so he left.

Madison sighed but at the same time felt relieved. She knew it wouldn't be fair to Ben if she went out with him while potentially having feelings for someone else. She looked over her sister's table and saw both Vida and Nick there. She smiled faintly and decided to head over there.

 **End Flashback**

Madison sighed faintly as she looked back at Nick. She hoped that whatever these feelings she had for Nick wouldn't change anything between them.

Arc Finish

AN: So this chapter reveals the beginning of Madison's crush on Nick, or her slowly realizing it.

As of now, like I said in my summary, the crush is a simple attraction. I plan on developing their relationship which I felt had good chemistry.

How I interpreted this episode at the end. Ben had said he wanted to ask her out, but he didn't directly. He mentioned it again at the end (which I think is pointless to mention unless you are asking again indirectly. Madison doesn't give him a clear answer, which could mean no, not at the time, or she didn't want to go on a date.) So I twisted this a bit for some more development haha.

Also notice that Vida kind of knows what's going on. I may develop this more.

Leave questions, comments. I hope I wrote well enough to make it clear. Next chapter is Whispering Voices.


	5. Whispering Voices - Trust

Disclaimer: Don't own Power Rangers. Don't think I'll come close to owning it.

To the previous reviews and follows, thank you all! I should have mentioned that I didn't want to write a jealous scene with Nick yet. Not only is Madison discovering her feelings but Nick is also in the same boat if you haven't noticed.

AN: Alright here's Whispering Voices. This episode was the episode which Koragg mentally talks to Nick which causes him to be suspicious of the rangers and not feeling wanted. Meanwhile, Leelee hid money and makes the rangers believe Nick stole it.

This chapter is a bit longer. It felt better this way to me than splitting it like I normally do.

Chapter V Whispering Voices/Trust

Rock Porium

The rangers minus Nick were talking. They had tried finding the thousand dollars that Toby had trusted Xander to make a deposit. However, the money was missing. Leelee had told Xander that similar robberies had taken place and those robberies had an insider. With the money gone, Xander could only trust his friends who he had known for a long time before deciding it could be Nick who stole money.

"Alright guys, the money's not here." Xander was nervous.

"Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put together what happened." Vida said angrily and a little disappointedly, leading the others outside.

Madison sat there momentarily unsure what to do. _'I don't think Nick's the type to steal the money, but the money's not here. But what if he is? I really don't know him that well. I'm the one who got him this job. If he is, I feel really bad, especially when I feel like he's something special. I really thought I could trust him.'_ She quickly followed them.

Outside

The group reached Nick and greeted him. However, they were unsure how to begin the accusation until a voice spoke out.

"Look Nick. There's a thousand dollars missing from the store." _'I can't believe I'm doing this.'_ Madison started looking down at her shoes.

Chip, Vida, and Xander looked at Madison a little surprised. They knew that Madison wasn't the type to be so confrontational about this.

Nick, unaware of their stares, interprets this as they need help finding the money _'Alright, I can help look for it.'_ However, he sees the gang's stares and realizes that they're actually accusing him. "Oh I get it. I'm the new guy. I must have stolen it right." _'Here I thought the voice I kept hearing was wrong.'_ He looks at all of them but looking at Madison especially hurt a little more.

Nick continues. "I charm my way into your lives to rip you guys off. Am I right?"

"That's what we think." Chip replied unsure what to do. Madison could only continue looking down feeling guilty and unsure.

"Great. And I thought you guys were my friends. I can't believe that I actually thought-" Nick answers back before stopping. He looks at Madison again remembering their first conversation.

 **"** **I mean, you could stay somewhere longer, you know, like… here, maybe"**

He sighs and thinks _'I actually thought I had a home here.'_ Now, he realized he was right from the beginning that he never had a place to stay.

"Never mind. Nice knowing you." He quickly leaves on his bike.

"Maybe we made a mistake." Madison states dejectedly. _'What did we just do? Maybe it was someone else. He was just angry that we accused him. I feel so conflicted.'_ The gang heads back in ready to explain to Toby.

With Nick

 _'_ _Well. Today has been a good day.'_ Nick thinks sarcastically as he rides away. _'Not only have I been getting headaches caused by this strange voice but also my 'real friends' never trusted me at all.'_ He sighed at that thought.

 _'_ _I'm hurt by that. Guess I know why I never stayed around one place for a while so I wouldn't get hurt by people I trust. Man, I can't believe I trusted them so much. Especially Madison.'_ He sighed again.

 _'_ _Guess she's not as nice as I thought she was. But then again, she was the first one who wanted me to stay.'_ He remembered how she first encouraged him to believe in magic after his first try. How she wanted him to stay to make friends. How she got him the job to stay. Finally, how pretty she looked when she blushed.

Shaking his head at his final thought because it was unimportant, Nick continued his train of thought. _'Guess, that's what makes it hurt more. Someone who used to believe in me and then stopped.'_

He was then interrupted by the mysterious voice that had plagued him throughout the day. _'See. You don't have any friends.'_

Angered, Nick demanded out loud, "Who are you?"

The voice laughed. _'Meet me at the beach and find out.'_ Nick decided to take care of this once and for all.

 _Meanwhile_

The gang is trying to get ready to talk to Toby about the missing money, but they are hesitant because they're afraid of the consequences. Toby sees their hesitation and asks, "You guys look like you want to tell me something."

Xander is nervous and says, "Well, it's about-". The rest of the rangers look down, scared what the boss would say while one of them was sad because of the events that had transpired.

Toby finishes, "The money?" He looks at their shocked expression. He holds it out for them to see. "I found it behind the register. I may be your boss, but I'm also your friend."

The last few words really hurt Madison. She realizes how trusting Toby was even though they kept being a ranger a secret from him. Nick, on the other hand, did not get the same treatment from them. _'Wow, Toby trusts us even though we always leave to go fight monsters. Some friend I am to Nick.'_ She flinches at the word friend remembering her first conversation with Nick.

"I thought Nick stole the money." Xander said, feeling ashamed of himself now.

Toby was shocked and at a loss for words. "Guy's as honest as … solid rock."

Madison felt even more guilty now thinking that _'Ha. That's ironic. I was a statue a couple days ago, and everyone kept telling me that Nick basically beat the monster by himself. Man, I should have trusted him more. Now, he's gone.'_

Her morpher rings. When she opened it, she felt relieved when she saw Nick was close by the beach, having assumed he was out of Briarwood. That soon turned into fear when she realized Nick was fighting. She quickly hangs up and raises her morpher slightly. "Hey guys, we need to go and find Nick. Be right back Toby." She didn't bother hiding anything. The only thing that mattered to her was Nick's safety and an apology to Nick.

After Battle

The gang had just defeated Koragg and was returning to work. Before they start work however, Xander looks to the rest of the team except Nick. Seeing their guilty looks, he begins saying to Nick.

"I just want to say. We're… no I'm sorry. I really am."

Madison jumps in quickly. "You're our friend Nick." She looks down to her side, remembering her internal monologue and finishes "And you deserve better."

Vida nods, "No more jumping to conclusion. Promise."

Chip says, "It was Xander's fault." The gang laughs.

Nick chuckles. "Thanks guys. I owe you guys an apology too. I should have come to you guys when I was hearing Koragg's voice. So I guess we both learned our lesson. To trust in our friendship." At the last phrase, he looked particularly at Madison and smiled. Madison nodded and smiled back.

Xander reaches out his hand toward Nick. "No more secrets between us."

"No secrets man." Nick takes the hand and shakes it.

Madison, wanting a time to talk to Nick privately later, decides it would be best try at work. "Well this is nice but we're late for work."

Her sister groans as she heads back in. Chip and Xander follow. Madison starts to go in, but stops momentarily at the doorstop. She looks back and sees Nick over to his bike with a blanket. She calls out to him. "Nick?"

Nick is slightly flustered; he had checked to see if everyone went in. He responds, "Ya. I'm coming." However, Madison had already walked over with a slight smile on her face.

"Isn't that a baby blanket?" She teases. "You kept that since you were a baby?"

Nick rolled his eyes, hearing the teasing tone in her voice, and laughed. "Yes. I kept it since I was a baby."

"Oh. That's cute." She laughs.

Remembering what he had said about keeping secrets, he decided to share something about himself. "This blanket is all that I have of my birth parents."

Madison was shocked and embarrassed at this. "Oh. You're adopted. I didn't know that." _'Ok. Now I could see why he kept it."_

Nick continued, "It's no big thing. My adopted parents turned out to be great. I turned out fine. It's just…" He starts to stumble on his words, unsure. "I keep it… I'm not sure why I keep it." _'Why have I kept this? Interestingly enough, I'm remembering a little bit more now about this blanket now.'_

Embarrassed, Madison smiles and nods. "Thanks for trusting me and telling me this secret. Especially what happened recently."

Nick smiles, "I think we both learned our lesson. We should trust our friends more, not voices in our heads. Don't worry about it." He put the blanket away.

Madison shakes her head. "I should have trusted you more. You're not the type to steal and you're my friend Nick. I don't know why I didn't."

Nick replies, "Haha. I should have trusted you too. I remember that you wanted me to stay here in the first place. But I listened to Koragg's voice that you guys didn't want me here. Let's trust each other more." He smiles at Madison before heading into work and walking past her. _'There's no reason to beat herself over. I made the same mistake too.'_

Seeing his smile this time, Madison felt different and started reflecting more. _'Well, I guess I should trust him more. Why do I still feel uneasy?'_

Nick looked back, realizing Madison hadn't come with him to work. _'This is interesting. I forgave her because I realized I was being lied to and that she always believed in me before. I'm guessing now she feels unsure about what happened before. I guess it's time to return the favor._ ' He walked back and held her hand.

"I trust you. Don't worry." He reassured Madison, while looking into her eyes. "Let's get to work." He said and led her back to work.

Something registered in Madison while she was looking at him. She now realized why she felt uneasy.

 _'_ _I have a crush on Nick… well maybe it's like now. It's why I wanted him to stay in Briarwood. It's why I didn't go out with Ben. It's why I felt so guilty about thinking he's the guy who stole the money. Great. This is going to be really complicated… Add the fact that we're rangers… Do I even want these feelings to go deeper?'_

She paused. She was still walking to work with Nick holding her hand. _'At least though, it's nice holding his hand. It's comforting. We'll see what happens later. Maybe it'll go away or maybe it'll turn out to be good.'_ She smiled, hoping that this feeling would work out between her and Nick.

Arc Finish

AN: Wow, this was hard to write. I hope the story makes sense so far.

I used this episode because I think it had good reason for them to trust each other even more. I included the baby blanket deal as more development.

The point of this chapter was to show Madison realizing she likes Nick. Liking someone is different from crushing on someone. Liking (to me) is also liking their personality and the intention of having a deep relationship while crushing is being infatuated with a mystery or just the physical aspects of a person (and no intention of dating). I hope that makes sense.

So before this chapter, she's been crushing on Nick, and now those feelings have developed a bit.

It's hard writing these thoughts, but I hope you readers see the progress that I wanted.

Please leave a helpful or encouraging review. I'll be doing Stranger Within next.


	6. Stranger Within - Comfort

Stranger Within II

Disclaimer : I own Hidden Interactions, not Power Rangers

AN: Thanks for the reviews!

Sorry for the late update! I have a hard time updating because of my busy life (needed to visit people [health reasons] and work) and lack of inspiration. Try writing a fanfic, you'll understand.

Episode Summary: Vida is turned into a vampire after a night in the club. Only Chip out of the group seems to realize that Vida is different. Eventually, the rangers realize and try to turn her back. However, it doesn't work out when she is still a vampire after the monster is destroyed.

Stranger Within/ Comfort

At Rootcore

 _'I can't believe it. I didn't realize my own sister was a vampire earlier.'_

The entire group is in shock. They had dismissed Chip's claims that Vida was a vampire the day before. They thought that they had fixed it but soon realized she was still a vampire. Now, Vida was missing and Udonna seemed to come back with grave news.

"Before what? Before it's too late. Is that what you were going to say?" Madison asked, already fearing the worse.

"Make no mistake. We are in danger in losing one of our own." Udonna continued gravely.

Madison looked scared. _'What if we lose my sister? I can't lose her…'_

A voice interrupted her thoughts. "That's not going to happen."

That broke her off. She looked toward who had said it. It restored her confidence when she saw who it was and made eye contact with him.

Nick was listening and felt bad for Madison. ' _Maddie's scared. I would be scared too if my adopted sister became a vampire. She needs someone to support her.'_ As he made eye contact with Madison, he nodded determinedly before getting ready to go look for Vida.

Madison felt relieved and happy it was Nick who said it. She knew Nick, out of the people present, would comfort her the most. She was ready to start looking for her sister.

 _Next Morning_

 _At Rock Porium_

Unfortunately, their search was unsuccessful. They had searched through the whole night but couldn't find Vida. They went to Rock Porium to think where to find Vida.

However, as they started listing the possibilities where she could be, Madison was getting anxious and started going off frantically. "Maybe she left town. Maybe she was taken –"

"Maddy, we'll find her." Nick cut her off roughly, in hopes of calming down. Realizing that tone might not help, he added softly "I promise" while looking at her in the eye and comforting her.

"Find who?" A voice interrupted as if to answer their problem earlier.

"Vida!" Madison cried in relief. She runs over and hugs her sister.

"I'm fine sis. Don't worry." Vida said comfortingly.

Madison thought, _'Looks like Nick was right. We did find Vida after all. She seems to be back to normal'_ However, she was unaware of Vida's sinister smile.

 _Later that Afternoon_

 _After Vida is turned back to normal_

Madison sighs in the back room while sitting in a chair. Although relieved it's over, she is a little sad about the events that transpired recently. She just wanted some privacy to think what happened recently.

 _'Well, I basically contributed nothing to save my sister. I wasn't even the one who figured out that Vida was acting weird and Chip knew. I'm her sister. I should know her better but it seems that Chip knew better than I did.'_

"Hey. You alright?" Madison looked up at the voice recognizing it immediately.

"Hey Nick." Madison smiles but it's a fake smile.

Nick notices "What's wrong?" He was confused, thinking that Madison should be fine now. However, he had heard her sigh earlier. The other sign was that he knew that wasn't Madison's normal smile, which was more relaxed.

Madison hesitates and decides to tell him. "It's just that I didn't really do anything to save my sister. Our search was pointless because she came back under control. And Chip was the one who figured out everything and saved the day."

Nick contemplates what was said. "That's not the real problem is it? I think most people would normally be happy if someone saved their family. It seems to be deeper than you wanting to contribute."

Shocked, Madison stammers a bit. "Well. I guess I'm mostly upset about the fact that Chip knew the problem. I'm Vida's sister. It makes me wonder how well I know my sister."

Nick nods. "Well, you know your sister well. She had all of us fooled."

"But not Chip." She argues back.

Nick looks around and closes the door to make it more private. He didn't want to deal with possible eavesdroppers making this conversation awkward if he was right. He continues "Maybe Chip loves her more."

Madison pauses at that. She looks to Nick to elaborate more.

"I meant that romantically. That's a different love from all of us. You have actual family love toward Vida. Me and Xander just like Vida as friend. Those types of love give you a different view. Being in love makes you pay more attention to that person, so you know when he or she is being genuine. You can read their body language. That's how Chip knew her poses. "

At those words, she considered how true it was. She was recently paying more attention to Nick now than she did to Vida. She did notice when Nick got angry, he would furrow his eyebrows.

She nods. "I guess that makes sense. I would say it makes you worry more too." She looks down, still feeling a bit guilty.

"Chip loves Vida in a way that you can't as a sister. It's why he went to go fight Koragg by himself and why he made the dawn crystal. " Nick approaches Madison to put his hand on her shoulder.

Comforted, Madison nods. "Thanks Nick."

Nick laughs. "No problem." As a quick way of distracting her, he asks, "What do you think about Chip and Vida? Think Vida feels the same way?"

She couldn't help but laugh. She nods her head, "I think she does actually. She did defend him back in elementary school. And they do look cute together."

"Haha, maybe we should set them up." Nick said mischievously. She nods and laughs. She gives him a genuine smile. He notices and smiles back. Realizing the time, he points out indicating that he needs to go back to work.

Madison nods and says, "Thanks for comforting me Nick. It means a lot."

Nick responds. "No problem. I'll be back later." He leaves.

Madison stares at the space he left. She starts reflecting more about their earlier conversations and her feelings. _'I'm glad he stayed. He's an amazing person who keeps his promises. I hope he found Briarwood as home here. So he could stay longer and maybe I'll get the courage to tell him how I feel.'_ She laughed at the end. She was slowly falling in love with him.

Meanwhile

Nick was managing files at the front. However, he was distracted by thoughts of his earlier conversation. He remembered something he said.

 **"Being in love makes you pay more attention to that person, so you know when he or she is being genuine. You can read their body language."**

 _'Interestingly enough, I could read Madison well.'_ He remembers how he knew Madison was worried about her sister with her scared look on her face. He knew the difference between her real smile and her fake smile. He knew she liked to bite her bottom lip when she was approaching someone and nervous. She would always look down to her left when she was nervous.

 _'Well, I can't tell the quirks of the rest of the team. So what reason do I have for being able to read Madison?'_

As he felt a little bit uneasy for the questions he was asking himself, he saw Madison leave the back room. That's when he knew he felt comfortable again.

Arc End

AN: Alright. This was tough to write but worth it.

I haven't decided which event to do next. I got Long Ago and Heir Apparent as the likely chronological choices.

There was less of Nick's POV this chapter, but that will change accordingly.

Please leave a review. Please be patient! I'm not planning on stopping yet.


	7. Long Ago - Waiting

Long Ago – Waiting

Disclaimer

AN: Thanks for the reviews! It's encouraging! I hope for some critique.

Alright so I decided to continue with Long Ago. I watched the Taiwanese movie, Café. Waiting. Love, which was recommended to me by a couple people, and I used part of it as an inspiration. I recommend watching it.

Anyways, the movie helped inspire me to actually continue with Long Ago. There were some similarities with my plan how I wanted my version of Long Ago go, and I took it as a sign.

Long Ago- Waiting

Episode Summary: Madison kisses a frog who turns out to be Daggeron, the Solaris Knight, an old friend of Udonna.

After Battle

At Rootcore

 _'I'm so embarrassed about the kiss earlier. I don't know why I kissed him and I didn't think fairy tales would come true.'_

Walking around at the main room by herself, Madison was feeling slightly embarrassed about the event today. She never imagined she would kiss a frog like the fairy tales she heard as a kid. No one would even expect that the frog turned into a handsome knight. Although the fairy tale said the frog turns into a prince, this was still pretty close. It felt proper that the fairy tale should continue with the damsel ending up with the knight.

It was quite confusing. She had grown up with these fairy tales, but yet, she didn't want to seem to accept the ending.

 _'I mean it's just a fairy tale. So why am I bothered by it?'_

She didn't feel like she was in love with Daggeron, as the fairy tales would imply.

 _'That kiss was meant to be out of thanks... I think. I didn't mean to kiss that frog - or well Daggeron -now to imply anything romantically. I want my kiss to mean something romantically with someone else.'_ Her heart sped up a bit at the thought. She knew who that someone else was specifically.

 _'Great. This is awkward now…'_

As if to make matters worse, Daggeron entered the room and noticed her pacing.

 _'Make it super awkward.'_ Madison had noticed Daggeron enter in and was preparing to leave.

Daggeron greets her, "Hi Madison," clueless to her thoughts.

"Hi" Madison replied back before turning around quickly.

Worried, Daggeron asks, "What's wrong my lady?" Caught, Madison tries to say something and pauses. Noticing the awkwardness, he asks, "Is it about you kissing a frog earlier today?"

Madison, shocked, nods dumbly.

Daggeron starts apologizing. He had been worried about playing with a girl's feelings. "Just so you know, I casted a spell on you so you could kiss me. I'm sorry if that confused you. You also didn't kiss me on the mouth, actually on my back as a frog"

Madison breathes a sigh of relief. "That's good to know." _'So that's why I randomly felt the need to kiss the frog. And I kind of forgot it wasn't mouth to mouth.'_

Daggeron continues, "Haha. Don't worry. You weren't in love with a frog; that's not why you kissed it. It's not like you actually expected a frog to become someone."

Madison awkwardly laughs. "Actually, we have a children story about princesses kissing frogs who turn into their prince and then they live happily ever after."

Slight pause. Realizing the ridicule she would face, Daggeron felt bad. "I didn't know that. Is that why you're not feeling comfortable with me around?"

Nodding her head, she replies "Yeah."

A little remorseful, Daggeron states, "Sorry about that. I'm guessing it makes you feel awkward because you've been waiting for a moment like this to come true?" Seeing Madison's confused look, he continues, "I don't mean about the frog. I meant about a possible lover."

"Yeah. No offense, but you're…"

"Don't worry. Besides, I love someone else before she…" He stopped.

Realizing the implied silence, Madison apologized.

"Don't be. It's been a while." He faces toward Madison. "Even though you dislike frogs and it's a silly fairy tale, you couldn't help but think there was some truth in it after the events of today. Just be patient. The right one will come along."

Encouraged, Madison nods. _'Or maybe, the right one was already there.'_ "Thanks. I'm going to go to work now. Bye." She leaves without Daggeron giving her a farewell.

Closing his eyes, Daggeron said a quote he heard somewhere to the empty air.

"Every single person in this world is just waiting for their other half, waiting for the destined one, who can see the beauty in you." [1]. He hoped Madison would have better luck with love than he did [2].

Outside the woods

Nick was sitting on a log considering the mixture of feelings he felt. He was angry, jealous, and sad about what had happened earlier.

 _'Madison kissed Daggeron._

 _Well, Madison kissed a frog who turned into Daggeron._

 _Or was it Madison kissed Daggeron who was a frog?_

 _Ugh. This is confusing._

 _Doesn't matter. Madison kissed Daggeron in the end._

 _Anyways, how am I supposed to compete with this guy? The guy's strong and Udonna mentioned that Daggeron was one of the few people she trusted her life with. Udonna's probably going to ask him to be leader now.'_

He sighed. He knew Daggeron was a good man. But-

 _'Man, why couldn't I have been kissed by Madison? I mean why did she kiss a frog in the first place? Why did it have to be Daggeron?_

He knew that if Madison had kissed Chip or Xander he would still be angry.

 _'It sucks to realize my feelings for Madison late now. All it took was a stupid kiss and I waited too long.'_

Nick kicked a rock out of frustration.

 _'And now it seems that Madison has a crush on Daggeron now. Stupid fairy tale.'_

He stood up to look around for something to break. He remembered a couple moments and conversations he had with Madison.

 **"Try believing again. Maybe it didn't catch on the first time**."

The time she believed in him when he didn't first believe in magic. She always ended up encouraging him.

 **"I mean, you could stay somewhere longer, you know, like… here, maybe."**

Their first conversation that she wanted him to stay. She was the first person, outside family, who wanted him to stay in a place

The time she got him his job at Rock Porium. That turned out pretty well. He knew his friends better, got paid, and spent more time with Madison.

The time which she turned Xander's head bigger. He didn't realize she had a childish sense of humor. [3]

Her filming. He laughed about it. He used to think it was annoying. However, it grew on him a bit more after the incident. He realized after paying more attention she had a special smile when she was filming.

 **"I'm gonna get you out of this Maddy. I promise"**

 **"Maddy, we'll find her. I promise."**

The promises he made. The first to turn her back to normal. The second promise to help her find her sister.

The nudge he gave Madison to encourage her to talk to that guy at Rock Porium after the stone statue incident. The sadness he felt thinking they might go on a date and the relief he felt when she didn't. [4]

Telling her about his blanket and him being adopted. That was the biggest secret he had, and he trusted her with it. [5]

As he reminisced those memories, Nick shook his head. _'Man, I actually liked her for a long time. I waited too long for me to realize this. Guess, I lost my chance.'_

No longer angry and only feeling sorry for himself, he dejectedly treaded back to Rootcore and entered.

He saw Daggeron sitting on a stair, contemplating something. Nick ignored him and wanted to train, so he rushed to the Xenotome to find a new spell to practice.

Daggeron notices Nick and says, "Hey Nick. You need help with something?"

"No thank you" was the curt reply.

Sensing a bit of animosity, Daggeron replies back, "I was just trying to help."

"I don't need your help." Nick replied hotly.

Daggeron sighed. "Listen, I can help you. I'm older, wiser, and a bit more experienced than you are. I just helped Madison out with her problem."

Nick glared at him. That glare was meant to be a menacing look.

However, Daggeron interpreted the glare as a way to continue explaining more. "It was more about romantic advice, but I'm better suited for training."

However, that response only gave Nick questions. His curiosity overtook his previous anger and he asked, "About what exactly?"

Daggeron considered the situation. He didn't want to betray Madison's trust but at the same time, he knew Nick would only open up if he opened up about it. He noticed Nick's potential and figured he could tell him on one condition.

"Promise me it stays between us and you'll talk about your problem."

Nick quickly thought _'If it turns out that they'll together I'm not talking…'_ He says, "We'll see," preparing for the worst possible outcome.

"Alright. I told Madison I put a spell on her that led her to kiss me. That kiss I think confused her. What makes it worse is I didn't know about this childish story you guys have about frogs turning into princes. So, I told her don't worry you don't have feelings for me."

 _'Oh. It was a spell…'_ Nick states, "So you meant to tell me, you casted a spell on her for her to kiss you. And she got confused whether she had feelings for you." He tried to hide his excitement.

Daggeron noticed a little bit of excitement but continued. "Yes. I believe the story about you finding your love from kissing a frog really confused her. And I think hearing that as a kid, you couldn't help, but think there was some truth in it."

 _'So Madison doesn't have feelings for him!'_ Nick laughed. He continued, "Yeah we were going to make fun of her for it." He said quickly hoping to sound nonchalant. "Wait, where's the advice?"

"Ah. I told her love doesn't come from kissing a frog. It comes from waiting for the right person."

"I see." Nick said dejectedly. _'So Madison doesn't like me like that if she's waiting for someone else then.'_

Daggeron notices. He teases Nick to get him more relaxed. "You got someone on your mind you already like?"

"What. No." Nick quickly denies.

Daggeron continues, "Of course. But if you already like someone, eventually, that someone will notice."

"Really?" Nick asked.

Realizing that there was someone on Nick's mind, he continued and started speaking from his experience, "They'll notice. Whether you're soothing their scars, wiping away their tears, shielding them from rain, or being their light, as long as you're there, they'll notice. Just be by their side." Daggeron paused, considering his former lover. "Eventually, your love will realize their true love is one who's always been by their side. You just have to wait. Love is like that"

Nick nodded, taking those words to heart and seeing some truth in what he had said. That basically described his feelings with Madison. She had always been by his side. Maybe, he could wait and see what happens.

Daggeron paused, "Anyways, what was your original problem." He had a feeling he knew but just wanted to make sure.

Nick fidgeted. _'Shoot… uh…'_ "Uh… well… I was insecure about you maybe becoming leader," He looked down as he finished.

Daggeron inwardly laughed. He saw the lie through. It was about a girl, and he felt like he knew exactly which one it was.

Somewhere at Rock Porium

A certain blue ranger sneezed while acting as the cashier.

Back at Rootcore

However, Daggeron played along. He gave enough romantic advice for today. He shook his head.

"I'm just a veteran who offers advice and help. I had my days. Now, it's your turn."

Daggeron continues the thought. _'Your turn to fight the monsters and find love.'_

Arc Finish

AN:

[1] A quote that summarizes the movie Love. Café. Waiting. It's a big theme too, and it was one of the two themes of this chapter.

[2]I'm not going to make it part of the plot what Daggeron's love story was or who. Let's just say that if it comes up again, his love died in battle, and they mirror Nick's and Madison's relationship.

[3] Scene from Code busters in canon but not written.

[4] I wrote the scene. Read it again in Rock Solid – Apology.

[5] Formally in Ranger Down (in canon). I wrote the scene in Whispering Voices – Trust. I made it earlier as a sign of development of their relationship.

Haha so many side stories in this plot I could develop, but I'm just going to try and focus on Nick and Madison's relationship. (Otherwise, I'll never finish).

I would think that right now is it's clear that they both know they like each other but don't know if it's reciprocated. They're just waiting for each other to have deeper feelings for them.

Why not confess to each other soon? They just realized it. It'll take a while for them to feel they need to confess.

Please leave a review.


	8. Heir Apparent II - Family

Heir Apparent – Family

Disclaimer: Don't own the Power Rangers

AN: Thanks for the views and review.

Alright, this chapter took a while, because I wanted to make sure it connected with the future episodes and previous episodes.

We are getting close to the ending. I would say starting this chapter is getting close to the end and the last arc.

"normal talk"

' _thoughts'_

" **Flashback"**

Heir Apparent Family

At Rootcore

Nick was sweeping the main room at Rootcore. Udonna had given him a chore to clean up the room. Normally, he wouldn't have minded doing it, but now he felt that he had a duty.

Nick shakes his head. He had just learned he was Bowen, Udonna and Leanbow's son. Unfortunately, Leanbow turned out to be Koragg.

' _Well, I just met my real parents, something I wanted for a long time. It's nice having my mom as sorceress who could kick butt, but Koragg as my father is…'_

He sighed. Nick was loyal, and it's hard to forgive someone who always wanted to kill him or his team.

' _I don't get why everyone is defending Koragg. It doesn't' matter what he did before as Leanbow. He took away our megazord power before. He's caused havoc on Briarwood more times than we can count. He's almost killed all of us a couple times this past couple months. Except…'_

"Hey Nick. Or should I say Bowen now?" Nick turned and saw Madison.

Ignoring his previous thoughts, he laughs. "Nick is good. It'll take me a while to get me used to Bowen. I've been called Nick my whole life. Kind of weird if it changes now. What's up?"

Madison bites her lip remembering what she was doing earlier.

Earlier

Madison was in the library at Rootcore searching for anything that could help find Leanbow. She felt the need to unite a family get together. Specifically, Nick's.

She sighed. She remembered Nick's face when he told the story about his blanket.

" **This blanket is all that I have of my birth parents."**

The face he had when he shared about it was what Madison remembered the most. It was a look of so questions about why they didn't want him. Madison knew what he meant when he questioned why he kept the blanket. Nick wanted to find his real family. That's why he was always on the move, hopefully finding a place he could call home.

Fortunately, his parents turned out to be close. They did love him. However, this family as a whole still had to be reunited.

As she continued reading, looking at possible dimensions where Leanbow could go, a voice questioned her. "Madison?"

She looked up and saw Udonna, Nick's mother. Madison smiled and replied, "I'm just looking for a way to help you and Nick find Leanbow."

Udonna smiled appreciatively and nodded in thanks. Madison smiled and just went back to reading. Udonna stood there thinking. She knew that Madison out of all the other rangers would help without asking. She also had a strong hunch that Nick and Madison had feelings for each other. Personally, she thought they complemented each other, but she didn't interfere before because it wasn't her business.

However, now that she knew that Nick was her son Bowen, she felt the right and need to meddle with this relationship. She liked Madison and thought she would be a good daughter-in-law. She already treated her like a daughter. Why not make it official?

Udonna paused, wondered what to do to get started, and remembered her earlier conversation with Nick and his problems with Leanbow.

"I think it would be better for you to talk to Nick actually. Instead of searching through the books."

Madison was shocked and a little worried if Udonna knew about her feelings for her son.

Seeing the worried look, Udonna bit her lip to keep her from laughing. "I think Nick needs to realize his father is a good man. Not just him as Koragg. You are the most understanding one out of the rangers, and I think Nick would listen to you."

"Uh." Madison was quickly thinking of a way to avoid this. She was having a harder time talking to Nick privately the last couple weeks because her heart kept pounding more the longer she talked to Nick. She was either going to start blushing, or get nervous or flustered.

Seeing her hesitation, Udonna smiled, "He needs you now. He's not going to listen to his mom right now. He's stubborn as his dad. Maybe a peer in this case will help him."

Unable to avoid this, Madison relents and nods. Before she exits the library, Udonna called out to her.

"Hey Madison."

"Yeah?" Madison bit her lip. She had a feeling she knew what this was about.

"Let's talk more privately. I think we might be doing that more regarding someone we both love." Udonna winks.

Blushing, Madison nodded and quickly hurried out. By the time she used the door to leave the library, Madison realized that that last sentence seemed like Udonna approved of her. Having the mother's approval boosted her confidence. Udonna laughed seeing her retreat. It felt good to tease someone else after being on the receiving end so many times.

 _Back to present time_

"Well, I wanted to see how you were doing. You found your real parents. You must be happy." Madison said cautiously. She hoped he would see the bigger picture and remind him of his original dream.

"I thought so too Maddy. But having my dad as Koragg kind of-" Nick stops and sighs.

"Sucks. Not going to argue with you there. But you have to remember Nick. He's helped us and never destroyed us when he had the chance."

"Helped us? When?" He turned away, angry thinking about what Koragg had done to them.

Madison puts her hand on his back to calm him. "Well, remember when we were lazy, and they took Jenji away so there would be no power rangers. Koragg helped us get our powers back by telling us about the tribunal of magic. If he didn't, we would have lost."

Nick pondered about this. Realizing her hand was on his back, he remembered the specific incident.

 **Koragg had appeared in front of the rangers. He had claimed he would help the rangers but Nick wanted to fight. However, he was held back by the others.**

" **We have no more magic Nick." Madison intervened and placed both of her hands on his back to calm him. "It's over."**

Nick remembered the incident and it turned out alright in the end. He was glad he listened to Madison because Madison was always reasonable. However, this time, Nick was stubborn and didn't want to see it her way even though he knew Maddison had been right about stuff like this before.

"Still doesn't explain why he almost always kills us." His pride wasn't going to let her win just yet.

She sighed. "But he never did. I think the part that's Leanbow always made him stop. It was always about honor as we heard from Daggeron. "

Nick understood what she meant. He sighed in frustration unable to argue anymore.

Madison states, "Listen, there's a part of him that's still good. And it's always been there. And more importantly he's your dad." She knew that he didn't want to listen but she had to. _'_ _All this time, Nick wanted to find his real dad. He should get this chance to know him.'_

Annoyed, Nick turned away. "Alright. I get it." Nick was tired of listening to this. He didn't see how someone who was so noble fight for evil.

Madison sighed. She knew he didn't want to hear what else she had to say, so she tried a different approach. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "I think you're forgetting something more important. You finally found your real mom. How does that make you feel?"

Taking a moment to reconsider, Nick considered considered "It's what I wanted, why I kept my blanket. To find my real family. I'm happy to know that I wasn't left because of they abandoned me, they died, or they didn't love me enough. I was loved by Udonna; she just wanted to protect me." He smiles at the thought.

Madison smiles at that response and continues the conversation. "Does finding your family here make you want to stay here?" She asks hopefully, now that he wouldn't feel alone as he did when they first met and curious whether he would stay. Her heart started beating more rapidly as she finished the question.

Nick pauses at that. "I'm not sure. Family is nice, but I haven't really considered Briarwood as home yet." _'_ _But, I like it here though. It's where you are.'_

Madison asks, "What's missing then? You got friends and family here now. What else do you want?" _'_ _The only thing he doesn't have is a girlfriend. Is that's what's going to make him stay?'_ The possible answer kind of excited and worried her. She would be ok if he didn't like someone now that meant she could try to be closer to him. But if he liked someone now, it would eat at her who it was.

Nick pauses thinking _'_ _You.'_ Still unsure of her feelings for him, he decides to say, "I don't know." He turns away. _'_ _And I don't want to jeopardize what I have already with Maddy.'_

Slightly disappointed but relieved that he didn't say a girl, otherwise she would be curious who it was, Madison decides to leave it at that. She shyly continues, "Just know you got people who care for you and it matters to them if you stay." _'_ _Hopefully, he'll take a hint that I like him with that last sentence. However there's something more important now, his father. He shouldn't miss this opportunity.'_ "Even your father."

Nick flinches at those words. However, Madison continues saying, "It's why he became Leanbow again. We saw him fight the Master when he threatened us. Just like how Daggeron and Udonna described him. He became good again because he loved you. Why don't you give him a chance to trust him?" She looks at him with pleading eyes. _'_ _Come on Nick'_

Contemplating the past events, Nick now realizes the truth. He permanently became Leanbow when Udonna revealed to him Nick was his son. "Wow, I guess I didn't see that before." He looks at Madison with thanks. _'_ _I guess that's why I like you so much. You really are perceptive and you are really wise.'_ He smiles thinking about the times when she was the first one to help Jenji and the first to take the door to face the tribunal of magic instead of the door that seemed to give their magic back.

Unaware of his thoughts and feeling flushed at the gaze, she turns away and laughs shyly. "You're like your father Nick. Caring and strong. You might have common interests too."

"Yeah, I guess. He also left quite me quite a legacy." He remembers the praise that Udonna and Daggeron had for Leanbow who basically saved the magical world. He couldn't help but wonder if Madison would be impressed if he was a hero like his dad too.

"Not just him. Your mom too." Madison jokes back.

"Haha. Yeah, they did." _'_ _That's true. My parents are pretty cool now that I think about it.'_

Noticing the time, she excused herself saying, "I need to go home for dinner. I'll see you later."

Sad that she was going but understanding the situation, Nick replied, "Yeah. I'll see you soon. Thanks."

' _I wish he would make me stay longer.'_ She leaves waving good-bye. As she left, she realized the parents that Nick had, a powerful sorceress and a great warrior. She smiles; she always knew he was special. Those parents were special, so their son should be super special. She would consider more about it on her way home.

Once she was gone, Nick couldn't help but realize he was already missing her. _' It feels empty without her here.'_ He contemplated a certain question in their recent conversation.

" **Does finding your family here make you want to stay here?"**

He gave the question more thought, thinking of an answer.

' _I don't see a reason to stay if we're not together.'_ Nick sighed. _'_ _Guess, I won't wait for you to realize my feelings.'_ He was going to plan how to confess to her. It was going to change everything.

Chapter Finish

AN: I hope you paid attention to the endings of both characters. It will set up the plot for the next chapter Light..

This chapter took a while to write because I am getting busy (work and errands).

Please leave a review. I hope for some advice and I enjoy you guys like how the story is coming along. I just want to improve as a storyteller.


	9. Light - Self-Confidence

Light - Self-Confidence

Disclaimer: I have stuff that belongs to me, but it doesn't include the Power Rangers. :(

Thanks for the views and reviews. Glad you guys like the story.

To a couple guest responses,

The Dark Wish saga was something I liked and really wanted to use in the story. However, I didn't like how I wrote it, and figured the character development I used was unnecessary and felt the relationship made no progress than a step forward. If you remember in Long Ago, I wrote that they both acknowledge liking each other but don't know if it's reciprocated nor do they want to confess. They plan to wait for each other to make a move because of Daggeron's advice to wait. Now, at the end of Heir Apparent, Nick wants to take initiative and confess, (if you caught his thoughts) regardless whether his feelings are reciprocated or not. How I wrote Dark Wish was that they kind of had this awkward air around them, and at the end, it's still the same, no real development that I was felt was important to the story and felt like a filler.

Long story short, I wasn't satisfied with how I wrote Dark Wish and ended up scratching it out. Could have used it but felt like a filler. I don't see a point in a filler chapter.

Kiss scene haha. winks* Just wait. Maybe there's one earlier; maybe there's one later haha. Maybe there's one not at all. Just read and find out what happens. Sorry if someone wanted them to kiss earlier, but I'm making their relationship normal or realistic. (But yes, I have considered it from the beginning).

Scene requests. I don't really follow them. Just know that it's all according to my inspiration and how I view the relationship should go. Most of the scenes everyone recommending me have been scenes I wanted to do from the beginning. Same with the story elements. The only idea that I didn't consider at all from the reviews was meeting Maddy's parents. (special shoutout to the creative guy who wrote that)

I know I don't write that much for a chapter and I update like once a week. I prefer quality over quantity. That's why I don't do many episodes. Finally, I want to finish a story that I plan on writing.

Nick and Maddy is the pairing that I prob know the best right now. Favorite though? Def top 3. Childhood memories make me think others were better. (AndrosxAshley and TommyxKim)

To Jznna, I replied to you privately but for those who read her review, I felt the need to do Light before Hunter and there's a certain plot development that felt best to introduce in Light that's kind of important in the Hunter.

I plan on writing Hunter and Mystic Fate. Mystic Fate will be broken in 3 chapters. After that, I don't know. There was a fanfic I wanted to try out but it would be in an alternate universe. [Let's say previous rangers come and give real life advice to a generation of power rangers]. However, I don't know if I would finish it or give it a proper ending.

Light is the episode where they introduce the Ten Terrors. Nick finds out he is the Light who could defeat dark magic. Madison feels self-conscious about her achievements, or lack of, as a power ranger. Magma, the first Terror they face, comes and fights the rangers. Maddie essentially beats him by herself (water beats fire), making her feel confident again.

Light - Self-Confidence

"normal conversation"

' _thoughts'_

At Rock Porium

' _Alright, I still haven't figured out when or how to confess to her, and she's coming to work soon.'_ Nick was sitting in the back room, tapping his fingers on the desk. Everytime he practiced of what to say, he felt that it wasn't good enough. However, he also wasn't feeling confident in himself. After all, he was plagued by a common question most guys had that kept them up late at night.

' _Does she like me?'_

He could fight thousands of Hildiacs with no magic. He could fight fierce and scary monsters by himself. He could ride a dragon that showed little restraint. He could be put in danger. He could be threatened in the underworld while being held captive.

But he couldn't tell a girl that he liked her.

Nick laughs at those thoughts even though they were true. He reflects the moments he shared with Madison, starting with how they met and now. It was definitely a great friendship. He actually considered her to be his best friend out of all the rangers. He smiled thinking of their past interactions.

She encouraged him to become a ranger and believe in magic. It was hard to find someone like her who trusted him from the moment they first met. In a sense, she tried to inspire him. Maybe he should listen to her encouragement more.

He told her about him being adopted and his red blanket. He never shared that with anybody so willingly.

He trusted her judgement. She was right about choosing the door that led to the tribunal of magic. If they always took the easy way out, they wouldn't have learned anything. She figured Jenji was hurt about them paying more attention to Fireheart than him before any of them knew why Jenji ran away. He was pretty sure Madison was right about his father. She reminded him the importance of knowing his dad, something he always wanted.

Finally, whenever she was down, he felt the need to always comfort her. She was someone worth protecting. He remembers the time when she was turned into a statue (although it was his fault originally) he eventually fixed it and apologized. That was when he made a silent vow to protect her as much as he can. He remembers nudging her to go talk to the guy who seemed interested in her even though he had conflicting feelings.

He laughs; he couldn't believe he didn't realize he liked her back then.

He remembers holding her hand when she apologized for not trusting him enough and comforting her when she was faced with her insecurities about her sister being a vampire and not knowing her sister well anymore.

Smiling at all of these moments, he pondered whether it was worth the risk? Losing a friend who trusted in him so much and meant a lot to him. He didn't want to lose these moments. But at the same time, he couldn't help but think what if she had the same feelings.

' _I guess we have these moments. It's hard not to think that she could be feeling the same way I do. Ugh. Why is this so hard to tell her?'_

As he sat, unsure of himself, Madison walked in to sign in and fill her time sheet. Nick immediately greets her.

"Hey Maddy."

"Hey Nick." She greets back slowly and gives a fake smile. There was little emotion in that response. She notices that he was thinking about something but doesn't ask because of her current predicament.

Noticing her situation, Nick forgets his internal monologue and asks, "What's wrong?" He cared more about her then what he was thinking about earlier.

' _You wouldn't get it.'_ Maddy thought. Her thoughts from last night had continued negatively. After realizing Nick's potential, she realized she had accomplished little as a power ranger and that the others accomplished more.

"Nothing's wrong." she lied. However, Nick looked at her, not believing her one bit. "Fine. I'm just a little sad." She sits down. Nick waits for her to continue.

' _I don't want Nick to think any less of me when he ends up agreeing with me.'_ She continued her dark thoughts.

"I know I'm a power ranger. But I feel like I don't do my share. You and the others light it up."

Surprised, Nick counters "That's not true. You're a huge part of this team."

' _There's Nick being nice.'_ Madison doesn't believe it.

"Thanks but let's get real here. You did the Catastros thing. Xander gets spell codes. Chip saved Vida. And Vida kicks butt."

"Maddy, that's not true. I can list a bunch of things that you did that was important. You saved Jenji."

"Yeah but as a friend." She interrupts him.

Nick sighs. "So doing good as a friend is different from doing something special as a ranger?" Madison looks confused. He continues, "It's really just the same." He was about to explain more before Madison interrupts him.

"The only special thing that I did as a ranger was get turned to stone. And you saved me. I don't deserve to be on the team compared to the rest of you guys."

Madison makes fun of herself and leaves before Nick could continue saying anything.

Nick stays, unsure what to do and confused with what had just happened.

' _She deserves to be on the team more than most of us. Why is she doubting herself? She is important to the team. So what if she doesn't do all the action stuff. Her contributions in keeping the team together is important. It keeps the team going on. That's stupid thinking fighting is the only important part.'_ He remembers his earlier predicament. _'_ _Man, I was doubting myself earlier too. I should confess and get this done with. But… '_ He pauses, remembering how much confidence she had in her abilities. _'_ _If I try to confess to her now, she won't take it seriously. She'll think I'm pitying her.'_ He sighed. He wanted to confess as soon as possible, but it just didn't seem the right time. _'_ _I hope she gets out of her shell again.'_

At the last thought, he remembered a promise he made to her after his apology after turning her into a statue.

" **Don't worry. I'll help you get out of your shell."**

He realizes he hasn't really done a lot to help her with that. Although he knows she wasn't as shy as before, she just became withdrawn this morning. ' _I hope she gets her confidence soon. I don't know what I can do to help.'_

Fight with Magma

The rangers were lying down after Magma had blasted them. None of their magic attacks had worked against him. This Terror was much stronger than any monster they had ever faced. It was looking pretty grim.

However, Madison was determined not to give up. _'_ _I have to do something. This monster needs to be destroyed or else people will die.'_ Madison thinks.

"I am not giving up." She says with boldness.

"Maddy?" Nick says worriedly, knowing she wasn't sure of herself earlier today. What if her lack of confidence got her hurt right now?

"This game isn't about us losing. If we lose, the world loses. And I am not going to let that happen." She said with strong conviction, forgetting her lack of confidence earlier the day.

Nick knew the way she said it she was determined to win. _'_ _Looks like she's out of her shell again.'_

Madison casts a spell to summon a huge tidal wave against the fire monster. The monster is actually hurt for once and and falls down, trying to recover from the damage it received.

The rangers congratulate Madison.

Happy, Nick thinks _'_ _I guess that's her moment. It also looks like you don't need to be the Light to destroy them.'_ He says, "You saved us all Maddy." with appreciation and hoping she felt like she made an important contribution to the team and earned her place on the team.

After Megazord Fight

The rangers are enjoying their time at the park, strolling around on their way back to work. They are enjoying the time, joking and talking with one another.

After chuckling a bit, Nick decides to ask Maddy, "Well, Maddy, I hope you feel like you made a contribution to the team today."

Madison stops walking and gives a thought. She replies, "Actually, I felt like the whole team." The team stops and looks at her. She gives a smile that says I'm joking before running off.

The team look to each and nod, knowing what to do when they catch her. They run off to chase her. Vida cries out "Let's split up and cut her off." She looks to Chip and Xander to imply something else.

Unaware of the stare that happened between the rest of his teammates, Nick responds, "I'll follow her. I'm the fastest."

The others nod. Vida points left, a direction she knows would take longer to reach Madison, "Chip and Xander, cut her off by going that way so she doesn't escape me and Nick. I'll try and cut her off first. Nick, you follow Madison."

Chip and Xander look at each other a little confused but did what they were told to do. Vida starts running and smirks. She had a feeling Nick would catch Madison by himself, and she wanted to play as little matchmaker for her sister. She remembers the conversation she had last night with her sister.

Meanwhile, Madison had looked back because of Vida's loud voice and saw that the rangers split up. She saw Chip and Xander head in a direction. She thinks _'_ _Guess, I'm not going to run toward that side at all. So I need to worry about Nick and Vida.'_ She sees Vida trying to take a shortcut on their path. _'_ _Guess it's just Nick following me while Vida tries and cuts me off. Chip and Xander are insurance I think.'_

Nick sees Madison looking back at them, distracted and unknowingly slowed down. He grins, knowing it was the perfect time to speed up to catch her.

Madison realizes that Nick had started speeding up and continues to run even though she knew Nick would probably catch her. A few moments later, she hears a voice that says, "Got you." She feels a bit excited, knowing it's Nick, and laughs. She slows down a bit to stop playing, but Nick bumps into her. They both fall to the grass.

After falling, Madison looks around and sees Nick close by. She blushes at the thought that Nick could have landed on top of her. She feels relieved because that would have been embarrassing but at the same time couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Nick looks around and sees Madison staring at him. He notices that they're close and begins sitting Indian-style. He says kiddingly, "Haha caught you. Pretty soon the others will come and remind you that there's no I in team."

Madison scoffs and joins him sitting on the grass.

Remembering their conversation at Rock Porium that morning, Nick asks seriously,"Hey, before they come back, what made you think that you weren't part of the team?" _'_ _What could make you want to leave the team?'_

Noticing the solemn question, she bites her lip and utters, "You".

 **Chapter Finish**

Haha, sorry for the cliffhanger.

I stopped here because the next part of Light needs more work, a lot of work. Hopefully, it'll be released soon.

I got a lot of work this past week and next week.

Please leave a review or advice.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions! I planned on keeping certain plot elements that I had planned from the beginning unless people actually gave me a good idea that I hadn't thought of.


	10. Light - Self-Confidence Part 2

Light - Self-Confidence Part 2

Alright, here's 2nd part of Self-Confidence.

Thanks for the views. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Please leave a review! I'd be happy to have a conversation with my readers.

Summary from the last chapter

Madison believes that she doesn't really contribute to the team while Nick has trouble confessing to Madison. After Madison defeats Magma, her confidence is restored. Eventually, Nick asks why she felt that unsure of herself; she responds with "you".

Light - Self-Confidence Part 2

"Normal"

' _thoughts'_

The word "You" made Nick confused and sad. His crush thought he didn't like her. He feels too dejected to say anything.

However, Madison thinks back what had happened last night.

 **Flashback**

Last Night

Madison had just left Rootcore. She had just helped Nick realize his dad was a good man. She reflected more about Nick's parents.

' _So Nick is practically expected to kick butt. His dad's known as a great hero. His mom's a powerful sorceress. It's good that we have him on the team. He is the strongest one out of us all.'_ She sighs. _'_ _Man, I just had to fall for him.'_

' _I wonder if he pays attention to me. What have I done as a ranger?'_ As she ponders that question, she couldn't think of anything about her accomplishments. _'_ _Nothing I guess. Nick got Catastros and has defeated monsters by himself. I always need help defeating them. We all save people.'_

She sighs. _'_ _Nick probably wouldn't pay special attention to me if I didn't do anything special as a ranger.'_

' _Come on Madison, there has to be something special you did as a ranger.'_ She thinks harder. _'_ _Well, I talk to people and help them out.'_

A voice within her speaks out, _'_ _But that's more like a friend. Anyone could do that. Friends don't save the world; rangers do.'_ She sighs again, deciding to talk to Vida when she gets home. Hopefully, Vida would help out.

 **End Flashback**

Seeing his surprised and confused look, she explains. "You have amazing parents who kick butt. You're the leader which should be expected considering your parents. You are the best ranger out of all of us. When I compare myself to the rest of the rangers, they've kicked more butt than I do. I talked to Vida last night. She tried telling me otherwise, but it didn't convince me." _'_ _Vida also said other things but I'm not saying any of it.'_ She looks the other way, slightly embarassed.

Relieved, Nick stares at her, processing what was said and what wasn't said. His adopted sister had given him advice about that regarding girls. His adopted sister also mentioned that a girl is comforted by what a guy says from his heart. _'_ _She shouldn't think less of herself. She's not exactly an action hero, but her shy encouragement has kept me and the team going.'_ He scoots closer.

"Listen Maddy" He gets nervous, not knowing exactly what to say to ease her. Madison looks attentitively, mesmerized by how much she liked it when he said her name. He continues, "You just beat a monster by yourself. You're like an action hero now. However, even if you didn't beat the monster, your contribution to the team has always been there."

Noticing her puzzled look, he adds, "I mentioned earlier that you helped Jenji. It's your considerate side that contributes to the team. We wouldn't have Jenji now if it weren't for you."

She adds, "Well I noticed because everyone else had left me for Fireheart burping before. Only you caught me for that exercise. It kind of felt like deja vu. I looked around that time and I saw Jenji. It's how I would have acted." [1] _'_ _Now that I mention it, it was nice being in his arms.'_

He blushes and momentarily looks away, _'_ _I wasn't going to let my crush fall like that. Nice to see she remembers.'_ He remembers how comfortable it felt to hold her in his arms. Recomposing himself, he says, "Well, what about me?"

Madison looks surprised and nervous about the implications of that question.

' _Ok that sounded like a Freudian slip.'_ He continues quickly, "You helped inspire me to stay and become a ranger. You trusted me a stranger at that time. If I'm so awesome, doesn't that make the person who inspired me awesome too. She's responsible for that."

Madison rolls her eyes and replies, "Don't get a big head now." After that sentence though, she smiles, feeling comfortable with him around again and no longer insecure about herself.

"Says the girl who said I am the team." He beams back.

"Hey. That was before my insecurities." She looks around the scenery, trying to find Vida, Chip, and Xander, but no avail. She decides to continue sitting there, enjoying Nick's presence.

Remembering his uncertainty and a thought earlier, Nick gulps.

' _ **I guess we have these moments. It's hard not to think that she could be feeling the same thing that I do.'**_

' _And now that she has her confidence back, it's ok to tell her. Alright, if she can stand up to a monster we couldn't hurt, I can do this. I guess I should be more sure of myself just like Maddy.'_

He clears his throat and faces toward her. "You know Madison," he whispers.

"Yes Nick?" She asks. She looks at him, fully paying attention to him. What Nick had just said sounded different and really important. Her thoughts kept racing at the possibility of what was going to happen next while her heart began to beat faster.

He inches a little closer and says "Your encouragement is important to the team. It's important to me." He says the last part a little bit quieter.

Inwardly, she's ecstatic, realizing her crush paid attention to her. "Really?" She inches closer to study his face to tell if he's telling the truth,

He takes a deep breath. He looks at her, analyzing her and deciding to go for it. "Yeah. It's why I -" He pauses a bit and looks at Madison who leans forward as if to hear him better. His body instinctively acts. He closes his eyes and leans toward her lips.

Madison notices. Before processing what was going on, she follows Nick's actions by closing her eyes.

Some thoughts begin to register in Nick's brain. _'_ _You should confess first before kissing her.'_

Another thought countered back, _'_ _I smell peppermint. Is she close enough to want to kiss me back?'_

"Hey guys! Toby needs us back at work! He needs to tell us something." Chip's voice echoed through the park.

That voice made them open their eyes, and they both turn away from each other. Their thoughts began to come back to them.

Madison was a little scared. _'_ _I was about to kiss Nick. Wait a minute, he wanted to kiss me first.'_ The last bit makes her smile and made her less worried. _'_ _Seems like my feelings are returned.'_ She looks at Nick.

Nick was a little sad and angry. _'_ _Damn you Chip! Why did you have to ruin that? I think she was about to kiss me back.'_ Remembering his lack of confession and noticing the awkward silence, he continues "Well, Maddy. As I was saying, it's why I -"

"Hey, boyfriend and girlfriend. Let's get going back to work!" Vida yelled, smirking at them both.

They both turn around and saw Vida and her smirk. They both blush and are as red as a certain ranger outfit.

' _Uh what? We're not a couple. That would be nice.'_ He daydreams at the last thought. He also notices that both he and Madison didn' deny it even though they didn't even talk about that.

' _Dang it sis. Have you been watching this entire time?'_ Madison gives a look that asks her sister the question. She saw Vida's smile that screamed yes and told you so. Madison shakes her head and mentally curses the sister connection she has. However, she begins to chuckle lightly at the earlier conversation she had last night with Vida. Vida was right all along.

 **Flashback**

"I'm serious, Maddy. You shouldn't think any less of yourself. Besides, Nick pays attention to you even if you think you haven't been the hero." Vida says passionately.

"I think you're just being nice to me. And who said this was about Nick?" Madison looks a little worried about her crush being revealed.

"Finally, you admit to me you like Nick." Vida gives a breath of relief.

"What? No I don't." The blue ranger quickly denies. She begins playing with her hair.

"You're biting your lower lip and twirling your hair. You do that when you're nervous. Also, you want Nick to pay attention to you. You didn't deny that."

She surrenders. "Ok, fine. So I like Nick."

"Good to know that for sure now. I'm pretty sure Xander, Toby, Udonna, Clare, and Daggeron have an idea too. Toby actually asked me after he had hired Nick. I realized it after you kissed Daggeron and looked sad about it. Xander had suspicions since the whole fiasco when we thought Nick stole money from the store. Chip hasn't mentioned anything to me, but I don't think he would be surprised."

"Is it that obvious?" The sister looks away, never considering the others would tell about her secret crush.

"Yes, but not to Nick. His is less obvious but it's there." Vida adds in.

"Wait you think he likes me? Why would he like someone like me?" She never considered it possible to be mutual.

Vida rolls her eyes. "Because you're awesome sis. Besides, you're like his best friend. The rest of us didn't even know he was adopted. But you knew that and his red blanket he kept as a baby. Trust me, that's blackmail material that a guy like Nick doesn't give easily. I'm serious, if he tells you that kind of stuff to you, he probably likes you." Vida hopes that convinces her; otherwise, she was going to play Cupid with the rangers.

Madison wants to believe her but thinks better of it. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up. But let's get real here." She looks at Vida with disbelief.

"Fine, don't believe me then. But try talking to Nick. He seems to help you better than I can. Maybe you'll find out the truth." Vida shakes her head.

Madison nods but doesn't believe it. She wonders what Nick would say.

 **End Flashback**

' _Guess I'll listen more to what my sister says next time.'_ She couldn't help but smile now knowing that the object of her affections returned her feelings. Although he didn't say it yet, she was sure of it now. She remembers what had just happened between them.

" **It's why I -"**

Then the almost kiss.

She smiles. It was pretty safe to assume the last part Nick was going to say, at the very least, I like you. Also, just recently, He didn't deny about being her boyfriend even though they weren't close to dating.

' _I guess we'll talk more about this later like we always do. This time, away from everyone else. It's more fitting that way.'_ She remembers the numerous of private conversations they had.

Nick stands there unsure what to do now. He could go back to confessing his feelings toward Madison, but he keeps getting interrupted now. He wanted to be clear to Madison about how he felt. However, there was work that needed to be done. He feels a hand on his shoulder and sees Madison pointing toward the gang.

She whispers, "Let's go." She smiles at him. Nick smiles back, knowing that her smile meant they'll talk about this when they get the chance.

He thinks _'_ _I guess she does like me after all. '_ As she begins heading over to the gang, a thought occurs to him. _'_ _I guess seeing you be courageous today gave me the courage to try to tell you.'_ He soons follows.

As they head over, they both wonder when they would get a chance to talk this over and hopefully take a step further in their relationship.

 **Episode Finish**

Yep, I've been planning this for a while. Just had a hard time writing it out.

So it's not a direct confession. But, they both notice that they wanted to kiss each other. They're not officially boyfriend girlfriend yet.

[1] This scene is actually in the beginning part of the episode Long Ago. In the original episode, the rangers let Madison fall after FireHeart comes in the room.

I didn't write the changed part but I figured why not make a minor change. I also think if Nick is aware of his crush, he wouldn't let her fall.

Please leave a review and questions.

Hunter comes up next. I expect some of you guys have been waiting for that chapter. It's another interesting major development.


	11. Hunter - Vindicated

Chapter Hunter - Vindicated

Disclaimer: Nope. I never owned the Power Rangers and never will. The story presented here comes from my imagination.

Thanks again for the reviews! Really appreciate them! Glad you guys are enjoying the story.

Whoot we come to Hunter, an episode I looked forward to writing. Just needed to find the time to do it. I had planned out this chapter to write from the beginning. Hopefully, the changes in their relationship makes it good. Had a lot of fun writing this chapter.

A couple guest responses,

Read and find out what a scene between Nick and Vida/Udonna/Leanbow could be about. Read the previous chapters, some of them have implied that they can happen. Rock Solid and Heir Apparent.

After this fanfic, I might write one more story/oneshot about Nick and Madison. If I'm doing a story, it won't just focus on them. I will say that the premise of the story/oneshot involves previous rangers giving advice to whatever current team of rangers. If I'm doing a story, I need a fellow writer for sure. Too much I don't know and I don't really have time. I also don't want to make characters OOC.

Haha, for Chip. He actually didn't know. He just randomly shouted. Chip's that loud haha. Sorry for putting him under a bus.

Personally, my favorite was In Space but Mighty Morphing holds a pretty close 2nd in being the original. Favorite ranger is Adam. My favorite real life actor (wasn't asked but made me like the ranger more), Jason's actor (he's really humble about being a power ranger and realized he was a huge role model; that's good character right there). Nope, I stopped watching Power Rangers after Mystic Force; (that was when I started high school and I needed to focus more). I don't plan on watching it again because I tried and cringed watching it. I tried a random episode each season but ended up stopping after 10 minutes in. Favorite villain wow. It's tough. I like Ransik. He redeemed himself and understandable.

Chapter Hunter - Vindicated

"Normal conversation"

' _Thoughts'_

" **flashback conversation"**

The next day

Unfortunately, both Nick and Madison were both swamped with work that they never had the opportunity to talk about what had happened at the park. Nick was called to Rootcore for some training with Fire Heart while Madison closed up Rock Porium. Nick did tell Madison they would talk the next day about what just happened before leaving off to Rootore.

Nick heads to work, a little eager. He remembers what happened the day before and smiles knowing that it was very likely for Madison to feel the same way he felt for her. _'_ _I can do this. I will talk to Madison and we'll see what happens. It's been looming over me what this is.'_

As Nick enter work, he is bombarded by Toby who asks him to come to his office for a private conversation. Worried, Nick goes in and sees the rangers hold up a trophy for him.

"Congratulations!"

Nick was confused.

Toby announces "To the first ever Rock Porium employee of the month!" The rest of the rangers cheer. Toby shakes Nick's hand.

Slightly embarrassed, Nick thanks them and mentions he couldn't have done it without the team. The team claps and slowly walks out. Madison lingers behind which Nick notices. He was going to take this opportunity.

"It's amazing."

"Looks like you finally found your groove at Briarwood." Madison responded. She smiles at him remembering the events that happened yesterday.

The red ranger notices her smile and he joins smiling. He was thinking about the same thing. He starts. "I told you before I didn't have any real friends." He pauses, remembering how much he thought he would always be a loner. "But now…" He pauses; he wasn't sure how to continue. He could say a bunch of things like he found her or love.

As if know what he wanted to say, she continues quietly, "But now you have." She gazes at him.

He nods, silently agreeing with her. _'_ _That is more fitting. Friends, family, and a possible girlfriend now.'_ Nick looks back. He begins biting his lower lip. He asks, "Do you have time now? We should talk about yesterday."

She nods.

However, both of their morphers rang. They both sigh and Nick says, "Nevermind." He looks apologetically toward her. She nods in understanding but points at the morpher. Nick nods understanding that they had a certain responsibility to fulfill. For now, ranger duty needs to come before their personal interest.

Monster Fight

Well, instead of rangers fighting the monster, three rangers were actually hiding from Oculus, the second Terror who prided his hunting skills. Xander and Vida had already been shot down and had been demolecularized. Nick was limping around and Madison had just seen her sister disintegrate before her eyes and was worried about Nick. Chip saw both rangers' current condition and realized he needed to step up and remain strong. He closes his eyes to think of something to do. The important mission right now was to protect Nick, one of their own.

Chip says, "Come on. We need to keep moving to make it hard for him. We'll get the others back. We just need a plan." He was trying to think like an archer in this situation to calculate the Hunter's next move.

Madison had looked at both Nick and Chip. She was surprised by Chip's resolve and remembered why they were in this situation. The rangers needed to protect Nick to destroy the terrors. She nods. "Let's keep going." She helps Chip support Nick in the city. _'_ _I don't want to lose someone I love.'_

As they trek across the city, Nick stumbles again. _'_ _Man, I can't do anything right now with my leg busted up. But, I'm putting Chip and more importantly Maddy in danger. What can I do?'_ He looks at them and sighs. "Wait! Stop a second!"

The blue and yellow ranger both stop. Chip points his head toward the area to Madison to indicate he'll check the surroundings. Madison would keep talking to Nick to make sure he's ok and continue to encourage him. Chip knew Madison was best suited for that.

"Nick, we can't stop." _'_ _We have to keep moving to get away from him.'_

"I'm going to surrender." _'_ _Just to protect you. I don't want to lose you.'_

The other rangers couldn't believe what was being said.

"What!" Chip yelled.

"You can't! We're a team!" Madison followed.

"It's me they're after." _'_ _Why can't they see it? I need to do this to protect you all.'_ "If I give up, it'll save Xander and Vida."

"If it's you they're after, then it's you we have to protect!" Chip responds reassuringly. Nick acknowledges.

A shot was heard.

Madison, hearing it first, reacts and yells "Watch out!". She shields Nick, taking the hit.

Nick cries, "Maddie!" _'_ _This is what I wanted to avoid. Maddie getting hurt or worse.'_ He reaches for her. She reaches back, but before they can make contact, she evaporates.

Chip realizes the situation and winces. He knew there was something going between the two. He would console his leader, but first.

"Come on. Let's go". Chip grabs him, forcing him to walk along. He grimaces, noticing that Nick was just limping along half heartedly.

Nick's thoughts. _'_ _This was what I wanted to avoid. What good am I being the Light if I can't even protect my friends? Being the Light puts my friends in danger. That's just as friend. What happens if they find out Maddy is my girlfriend?'_

After getting to the woods

Chip and Nick reach the woods without any attacks. They take a break, hiding behind tree.

Chip looks at Nick and realizes his head is looking down. Chip sympathizes with Nick. "Listen, Nick. Don't beat yourself up."

"You wouldn't understand."

Chip looks exasperated. "Maybe not. But we all wanted to be in this situation. All of us made this choice to protect you." There was something he wanted to imply.

Nick looks at Chip furiously, "Maybe I don't want to be protected. I should turn myself in."

"Look, It's like the movie Spider-man 2 [1]." Chip says, hoping to cheer his friend up. Nick looks a little confused. Chip's fascination with superheroes could not come at a worse time. "Peter Parker pretends he doesn't love Mary Jane to protect her from his enemies that he made as Spider-man. At the end, after she finds out that he's Spiderman and he loves her, Mary Jane chooses to be with Peter Parker, knowing the risks if his find out she's his lover. We knew the risk as rangers. We choose to protect you. There's no point in giving up." He hoped that would help end Nick's nonsense about giving himself up.

Nick grimaces. He enjoyed the movie, but at Chip's words, he begins to compare Madison to Mary Jane. It did seem very applicable right now. Maybe, he would follow the same footsteps as Peter did. This was real right now.

Chip, still noticing his internal struggle, continues. "Do you think giving yourself up would be what Xander, Vida, and Madison want you to do?" He looks away, not knowing what else he could say to convince his friend. He hoped him hearing Madison at the end would help.

Unfortunately at this moment, Chip gets shot.

Nick sees him gets shot and realizes something. _'_ _Why should I trust the bad guy that he'll give me back my friends? I should fight and get them back.'_ Angry at himself for wanting to give up, he decides to finally fight for his friends and rescue them.

After Battle

After using his newly found Battlelizer and defeating Oculus, Nick runs back to the woods hoping to find his friends. He hears a shout.

"Nick, over here!" Madison shouts excitedly.

He smiles. He loved hearing that voice. He turns and sees the other rangers all back to normal. Excited, he starts to run over. As he approaches them, he remembers the events that happened to them.

' _I need to protect Maddy. I can't let her get hurt or even worse killed because of me. I don't know what to say later if we talk.'_ When he approaches them, the smile he had becomes half-hearted.

Madison notices and wonders, _'_ _What happened when I was gone? We're safe now.'_ She knew she was going to talk to him about this. She looks at him and prepares herself for the conversation they would have later.

At Rock Porium

Madison had noticed that Nick went to Toby's room and was by himself. She took the opportunity to go in.

' _I'm ready to talk.'_ She was ready for whatever would happen next. She hoped she would be brave to confront it. Hopefully, something good will happen after this.

"Hey." She calls in and closes the door.

Nick tenses up. _'_ _Shoot. Uh…. I was hoping to do this later.'_ "Hey". He answers unenthusiastically.

"I know we had a rough day today, but we need to talk. About yesterday." She smiles and approaches him as if she was unaware of the awkwardness Nick was in.

"Oh." _'_ _Man. She's killing me here. What do I do? Hopefully, she doesn't have feelings for me.'_ He hoped. He didn't want to break her heart. He steps back to get away.

She laughs nervously. She wasn't sure why but thought it was kind of ironic. She was normally the shy one. She gets closer to him, limiting his movements.

When Nick was cornered, Madison smiles and begins to blush. "You wanted to say something yesterday but kind of left it hanging?"

Nick was getting nervous. "Uh… That was -" He pauses. He wasn't sure what to do. Lie and protect her or tell the truth and risk her life.

Seeing the nervousness, Maddy decides to be the first one to break the ice. "I have a feeling what it is. I really like you, Nick. I might even love you." She stares at him, waiting for him to confirm her suspicions.

Shocked, Nick thinks. _'_ _Dammit. That's the thing. After what happened today, I can't have my enemies know I'm in a relationship. I guess I'm gonna have to break her heart. Her life over my personal happiness.'_ "Uh… sorry, Madison." He pauses and looks away from her unable to lie straight to her face. "I don't like you like that." _'_ _Why is it so tough being a power ranger?'_ He couldn't bear to look at her.

However, after waiting what felt an eternity, his face is pulled to look at her face. Madison's eyes begin to water. "Look at me and say that again." she whispers as if she didn't believe him.

He pauses. _'_ _I don't want to say that again when I actually do. It's heartbreaking.'_ "I'm sorry. I don't- " He is interrupted by Madison suddenly kissing him on the lips.

Surprised, Nick tries to get her off, but his body didn't follow his orders. He instinctively holds her closer to him instead, deepening the kiss with his tongue.

Madison's suspicions were correct. Inwardly, she smiles for trusting her gut and other people. She was enjoying this kiss that he was getting into. _'_ _You don't like me like that huh?'_

Eventually, they both need to breath. Enjoying the hint of wintergreen in her breath, Nick finishes what he was going to say, "I really like you too." _'_ _Dammit. That's not what I wanted to say. That's a slip'_

Madison smiles. She sniffles a little bit, happy he actually said it.

' _Alright. I can still save this. Just explain.'_ "Listen. We can't be -"

"I know what you're going to say. I'm like your Mary Jane." Nick looks at her wondering how she knew. She notices and says "I talked to Chip when we got to work."

 **Flashback**

At work, Madison talks to Chip. "Hey Chip?" _'_ _Chip's the only one who maybe has a clue what happened after I was gone. Maybe he knows why Nick wasn't as happy as he was this morning."_

"Yeah Maddy?"

"What did you say to Nick after I … well…. Disappeared?" It was kind of awkward to say that she kind of died.

"I told him to not treat us as Mary Jane in Spider-man 2."

Madison was confused. _'_ _What does that have to do with-'_

He continues. "Well, not that exactly but that was the point. He kept wanting to give himself in. Kind of like in Spider-man 2, Peter doesn't confess his true feelings to Mary Jane to protect her. But MJ chose to be with him, knowing the danger. It's kind of like us. We knew the danger."

Madison laughs. _'_ _Chip would use the superhero movie to explain the situation. Oh!'_ It dawned to her. _'_ _What if Nick thinks like Peter? That could be why he seemed so hesitant in talking to me.'_ She reflects what happened today. _'_ _Actually, he already thinks like Peter. He wanted to protect us the entire time.'_ She begins to get nervous.

"Thanks Chip. Thanks a lot." She says hesitantly, and looks down, not knowing what to do with the future conversation she was going to have. She bites her lip, knowing Nick might lie to her.

Chip looks at her. "Just be brave Maddy. Do what MJ did at the end." She looks to him in confusion. "It's obvious on both sides Maddy. Just show him you don't care about the risks. Besides, you're a ranger. You were already in danger to begin with."

Laughing and feeling relieved at such a reasonable argument before she became really insecure, Maddy says "Thanks Chip. That helped a lot."

"It'll work out in the end. We power rangers always find a way to work it out." Chip smiles at her to reassure her.

Nodding, Madison decides to prepare herself. She knew she was going to have a tough time with Nick.

 **End Flashback**

Nick stares at her while Madison laughs. "What's so funny?" He asks.

"You think that me being your girlfriend puts me in more danger. I'm already in danger just because I'm a ranger. More wouldn't hurt." She silently thanks Chip for already making such a reasonable argument for her to use.

He pauses. "I don't want to lose you Madison. They'll target you more to get to us." He voices his fears but couldn't help agree with what she had said. _'_ _It's just a matter of more threats.'_

"So what do we do now? We both have feelings for each other, but we're both in danger." She asks. _'_ _Although I still would want to be in a relationship, Nick seems adamant about it.'_

Nick responds, "I don't know." He looks confused.

Madison closes her eyes and remembers Daggeron's advice.

" **Just be patient. The right one will come along." [2]**

' _Looks like I'll continue to be patient. He will eventually come along. I don't have to worry about my feelings or him liking me back now that I know he at least likes me the same way.'_

"I'll wait."

"What?" He asks. _'_ _That could… actually work. We don't date now and it's just between us. Nothing really changes other than we know how each other feel.'_ He smiles at that. It felt good being released from that stress and drama and even better that it was mutual.

" I'm happy to know we both like each other. I feel released knowing that. Granted, I wish we would date right now, but I agree that our lives are complicated right now." She says the last part hesitantly. _'_ _I think we would still make it work even with this going on. Maybe he'll realize the same thing.'_

Nick smiles. "Yeah. I feel free too." He randomly remembers what the theme song to Spider-man 2. He laughs, "Haha. I'll make sure I'll ask you out this time." _'_ _Maybe our first date should be to rewatch Spider-man 2. Just us two.'_ He continues, " It should be the guy who asks. I'm kind of surprised at the shy girl who broke out of her shell " He grins at her. _'_ _That was spontaneous of her to kiss me. Guess I shouldn't make fun of her.'_

She blushes. His previous words, **"** **Yeah. She's a wild one"** echoed in head. He'd mock her if she told him. It didn't seem like he fully realized it.

"I just did what Mary Jane did in the movie." She tells a half truth and looks away, now losing her previous courage.

"Hmm. Maybe I kind of remember it wrong. Let's watch it again when we have time." He jokes and emphasizes the last part, implying something else. She nods, catching what he meant at the end.

With the awkward silence and having some closure, she turns to go. "Hope to talk to you soon. Later Nick." As she walked to leave, she thinks back to the kiss, blushing at the thought how she started it.

Nick nods. "I hope you don't have to wait too long." He calls out to her. Somehow, he felt that she wasn't referring to actual talking. As she leaves, he begins to hum _'_ _Hope dangles on a string… like slow spinning redemption…'_

 **Episode Finish**

I made sure this chapter was finished before posting it this time. I think I learned my lesson.

[1] Don't own Spider-man 2 also. Don't own Vindicated by Dashboard Confessions, the song and theme of Spider-man 2. I got the idea using this song/movie while I was listening to my playlist about 2 weeks ago (during which I was writing the Light) and I was like oh yeah Spiderman-2. Then I remembered parts of the movie and I was hm that actually has something I planned to do.

[2] This quote was in my version of Long Ago.

Chip got a chance to redeem himself. He messed up last chapter and almost messed up this chapter. In his defence, he was actually trying to get Maddy and Nick together with what he said that. It's just that in Nick's current state of mind he focused what Peter did in the movie. Chip's deceptively perceptive. Besides, I don't like to throw people under the bus. Chip was chosen to be thrown under the bus the last time because I felt he could redeem himself this chapter.

Yeah, there's an actual kiss scene. The way I wrote it was meant to be a surprise. Sorry, if you guys wanted some juicy details. I like to keep some people on their toes and I wanted the kiss to be spontaneous. ;)

So what do you think?

Please leave a review. Thoughts and comments.

Up next. Hard Heads (which I didn't plan as a have to do episodes) and then Mystic Fate.


	12. Hard Heads - Talk with the Sister

Hard Heads - Talk with the Sister

Disclaimer: Nope, I did not randomly wake up to find out that I own the power rangers. I never owned them; strangely enough, I don't expect that to change.

Haha, thanks for the views and reviews.

To answer some reviews,

I see I got a couple questions regarding the last scene of Mystic Force/what my last scene will be. Any my response for that is. FOR THE LAST SCENE of MY FANFIC, JUST READ AND FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE STORY.

[I think I answered that a couple times and my response has been along the lines of "read and find out". My reasoning for that has been that scene (where Nick promises to return to Maddy) has basically been people's favorite scene hence why we have this ship/pairing. PLEASE note that, my story is a "little" different than in canon. Some stuff happens so some stuff changes. I'll comment more on the final scene when it happens. Just WAIT 3 weeks? I'm not giving details to spoil everything. I need to keep my readers on their toes.]

Wow, that's a lot of questions Ilovechocolate,

Personally, I liked Andros and Ashley's love story more than Wes and Jen's love story. Time force felt too focused on Wes and Jen's love story. All I remember was "will they be a couple or not" every episode. You don't really need that many plot elements in it {it's a kid's show}. But Wes and Jen's was super developed but that became the plot over the entire season. However, Wes and Jen's was definitely more believable than Andros and Ashley. [The real life actors of Wes and Jen actually became really good friends in real life.]

Haha. Teamups. I definitely think Mighty morphing should have had more teamups, but it's understandable. Power coins were destroyed. Realistically if you're a power ranger, you probably have many teamups as you can. (You're always fighting against evil)

Better red ranger. Being the red ranger implies leadership. I would say Jason because of that. Jason and Tommy have kept the team together well whenever they were leaders of their team. However, Jason has demonstrated more leadership characteristics. Letting Tommy (who was evil and wanted to kill them) into the team because Jason was willing to forgive. Willing to step down when he got replaced as lead I think is a good trait in a leader because it shows willingness to have someone else lead if given the opportunity. Tommy is the better ranger and fighter though but I don't remember anything in Zeo or Turbo that showed leadership. In fact, I vaguely remember one time that Rocky in Zeo did more of the talking while Tommy essentially just looked around.

As a guy, I thought Kat, Ashley, Cassie, Karone, Tori, Kira, and Madison were good looking.

I'm looking forward to the movie but I have a feeling it will be disappointing.

Oh boy. Pairings. That's the reason why we have fanfiction. T.J/Cassie (I thought there was good chemistry in the show but then it became Cassie/Phantom out of the blue). Jason/Kat (no evidence at all but I thought they looked like they fit together). Nick/Madison (heavily implied)

If I could be any power ranger character, I would have liked to be Adam. To serve on so many teams and not be lead would be nice.

Personally, I think Vida had better chemistry with Xander, but the show wanted Vida with Chip. There was decent chemistry between Chip and Vida. I will also say that Clare had better chemistry with Xander than with Chip though. (Funny you ask this question.)

Zordon. Floating heads are cool.

Future projects. Thinking about one more Power Ranger fanfic. Basically ex-rangers give advice to the ranger team to help them. Advice will be about ranger stuff/romance. It comes from the idea how I felt that the Zeo rangers (Jason and Rocky at first) would still be in Angel Grove while Turbo is going on. Then the first turbo rangers would be around while the 2nd turbo rangers are the power rangers. Dino thunder has tommy, and so he could invite his friends to come give advice (really should have been done on the show). Some other seasons will be done. Let's say there are some chance encounters and coincidences. Sadly, I don't think this fanfic will ever be "complete" because of so many possibilities.

Maybe I'll do a Flash fanfic seeing that I'm really into that show right now.

I see I'm getting some requests for a similar story with other couples. I'm thankful for you guys asking for a request. It shows to me that you guys like my writing, style, and plot. However, I want to be motivated to write another story on another couple. So if the motivation/imagination comes, there will be a story. No guarantees. If you are sad about that, just know that this story actually took a lot of planning, motivation, and imagination. If you want the same quality for another couple, just wait. I feel that it's hard to come up with new plot and you shouldn't expect the same immediately.

You can check out my Kingdom Heart fanfic (which was written 4 years ago), but that was definitely a different me and a different story.

Now on to the story.

Canon Hard Heads Summary : Nick and Vida get into an argument over using her D.J. equipment. To make matters worse, Hekatoid, a terror, slimes them so they can't morph.

So yes, this chapter is used to have Vida to talk to both of them. For the record, you won't know what Vida's thoughts are still. However, you get both Nick's and Madison's thoughts. It wasn't something I planned to write originally, but I thought hey, I could finish this wandering question.

Sorry no Udonna or Leanbow… [yet? Maybe… wink* wink*] Even though they haven't been mentioned since Heir Apparent, they're doing what they're doing in the cannon (Udonna's looking for him and Leanbow is protecting the terrors from the Master)

Hard Heads - Talk with the Sister

"Normal conversation"

' _Thoughts'_

' _ **Flashback thoughts'**_

" **Flashback conversation**

Nick was pondering what he did wrong today. He was not having a good day.

He played around with Vida's DJ table, enjoying the song he had stuck in his mind since yesterday. However, he was yelled by Vida furiously. He wasn't sure what the problem was. He was sure that she normally wouldn't be so angry about it. It had to be something else. Nonetheless, he yelled back at her. Toby and the other rangers had to intervene and diffuse the situation because it was making work awkward.

To make matters worse, he and Vida couldn't morph to be power rangers because of some slime. Naturally, the rangers stuck them together to protect them. Nick was trying to warn the rangers it was a bad idea to stick him with a very temperamental ranger, but he quieted down when Madison looked at him, implying him to get along with her sister. He sighed at that look.

' _Well. It seems that I'm stuck with Vida. Who also happens to be the sister of a girl I like very much. Unfortunately, she's pissed off at me for no good reason.'_ He groans. He couldn't figure exactly what he did that pissed Vida off. _'_ _Ugh. I guess I should just apologize about me using her table without me asking first.'_

"Listen." Vida turns her head toward him. "I'm sorry for using your table without asking." He says a bit weakly, not sure if that was the right thing to apologize for.

Vida huffs. She replies, "That. Don't worry about it. I wasn't angry about that." Nick looks confused, unsure how to diffuse the situation. Vida continues, "What were you playing earlier? It sounded pretty good."

Nick chuckles lightly, "Vindicated." Expecting her confused look, "From Spider-man 2. It's the main theme." He begins to look away embarrassed after all it brought up his confession the other day. _'_ _Well, that just became awkward. Hopefully, she doesn't know about it. What am I supposed to say to the overprotective sister? She probably doesn't know otherwise she would have killed me. She's already close in doing so.'_ He remembers the time when Vida threatened him after after he called Maddy shy and she turned into a statue.

Vida looks in understanding. "I see. So you really do like my sister." She grins a bit.

Appalled at the implications and how she found out, Nick looks at her with confusion. "Me and my sister talk every day. We do live together. She told me all about it yesterday. You guys both confessed, and she mentioned the similarities between Spider-man 2 and you guys."

"Oh." He gives some more thought. "Are you angry at me that she's hurt by us not dating? I thought she was ok with it."

"She says it now, but she is hurting a little bit. She really likes you, you know." Nick notices that she didn't confirm or deny his question.

" Yeah, I know." He says it a bit deflated as if he knows.

Vida sighs. "Maddy'll kill me for saying this, but you know... ever since you told her to be more spontaneous, she has tried to be that more."

"Uh huh." Nick says without giving much thought to it.

Hearing the skepticism, she continues, "I'm serious. I think she wanted you to notice her more."

' _I always noticed her.'_ "Really?" He questioned, curious.

"Ok fine. I'll tell you two instances. Maddy might kill me if you tell her."

Nick chuckles, knowing Maddy would never do that. She'll be flustered but no, she won't rearrange people's limbs like her sister always claimed.

"First instance. A couple days ago, Madison was feeling insecure about herself about her place in the team."

He nods. He remembers that. They talked about it. That was the day they almost kissed.

"Even though she didn't say it directly, it had to do with you. We started talking about basically how you have a lot to live up to- with Udonna and Lianbow as your parents. Madison then gives a 'random' thought about herself and not on the rest of us." Nick nods, remembering what Madison had told him about her insecurities.

"I told her about the rest of us don't have such a legacy, but she didn't really care about that. She focused on herself and her insecurities got the better of her. Listen, I know my sister. It was her indirect way of showing how much she wants you to recognize her. She thought she needed the same legacy" she emphasized that part specifically, "to match you."

Nick nods. "She's already awesome. What's the second?"

Vida laughs at the second instance. "The second instance is actually funny. I'm also hoping you would explain to me what the story behind it is. I don't blame you if you don't notice it. It's really small."

Nick looks confused. "Small?"

"I noticed that the other day she got wintergreen toothpaste and breath mints. Normally, she uses peppermint. When I asked her about it, she turned away and mumbled something. It sounded like maybe Nick would notice. I left it at that. Do you know why the change?" Vida looks at him to see what the story behind it was.

Nick looked confused for a while but remembered events that happened recently

' _The almost kiss had peppermint_.' He remembered being close to smell it.

' _ **I smell peppermint. Is she close enough to kiss me back?' [1]**_

' _And the kiss yesterday had something else. I remember it had a hint of wintergreen.' [2]_

' _She changed it but why did she change?'_ He thought harder.

 _ **Flashback**_

 **"When's the last time you went out there and did something different? Something spontaneous?" Nick throws an orange at Madison.**

 **"Spontaneous?" She catches it.**

 **Nick nods.**

 **"Okay ." Madison gives it some thought. When she remembered, she begins, "Yesterday I went to buy toothpaste. I always buy peppermint, and I thought no. I'm gonna do something different, and I bought wintergreen."**

 **"Wintergreen?" Nick questioned, as if he couldn't believe it.**

 **"Yes. Wintergreen." Madison says as if she realizes how lame it sounds.**

 **Realizing that he was right, Nick jokingly said, "You're a wild woman all right" He taps on her head playfully. "Whoo! She's a wild one!"**

 _ **End Flashback**_

He couldn't help but chuckle out loud at that. _'_ _She's a wild one alright. She kissed me yesterday and I didn't expect that. I guess she was proving to me that she was spontaneous after all.'_

"So what's the story?" Nick looks back at Vida, now looking at him with excited eyes that looked forward to tease her sister.

' _Well, sadly Vida might beat me up if I bring up the statue incident.'_ He straightens up."Alright, so before Maddy got turned into a statue and during the time when me and Maddy had our little fight," He paused just to see whether Vida was angry. He looked and it was ok for him to continue. "I asked her what was the last time she remembered being spontaneous. She responded with her buying wintergreen instead of peppermint. After that, I sarcastically called her wild."

Vida nods and laughs. "Haha. I see. She still wanted to prove to you that she was always spontaneous. I can't wait to make fun of her for this."

Nick laughs a bit. Vida continues seriously, " She did that for you to see if you paid attention." Then she starts smiling. "Or maybe it gives her courage haha."

"Could be." Nick responds. _'_ _That hint of wintergreen was there yesterday. Maybe she had a mint before we talked.'_ "I didn't think too much about it. Anyways, she proved me wrong. She's a wild one after all." He jokes and laughs a bit.

Vida joins laughing. After recomposing herself, she adds, "Shows how much she likes you to be brave for you." A slight pause. "I was angry at you earlier today because I didn't think you liked my sister as much as she liked you. I thought if you did, you would just date her and not worry about it." Pauses again. "Looks like I was wrong though. You really do like her if you notice that."

Understanding her unvoiced concerns, "I promise I won't hurt her." Nick promised to her.

"I know. Because, remember, if you do, you have to deal with me." Vida warned.

He laughs and remembers that threat. It was toward Ben on the day that Maddy got turned into a statue. He asks "Didn't you say that to Ben?"

Vida smirks. "That was actually toward you."

"What?" He was confused.

"I said that to you and meant it to you. I noticed it for a while. I thought of it as a crush back then. Now, I think it's something more."

"I don't know. It does seem like this could be a serious relationship though. Doubt I'm gonna find someone else who knows magic, knows my experiences as a power ranger, and wants me to actually stay." _'_ _If it's serious, she's going to need to meet my adopted family. Oh boy.'_ He imagines how Madison meeting his family will be like. _'_ _They'll like her. She's really sweet.'_

"Haha. You got that right. I just want you to stay for my sister."

He never considered Vida as a potential love interest. "Well, I always thought you might like Chip." He said absentmindedly.

Vida flinches as if to confirm his indirect question. "Do you want me to rearrange your limbs?"

"You can't do that. Your sister won't be happy. Besides, Chip will ask why." He teases back. _'_ _I see I was right that there was some mutual feeling between Chip and Vida. I guess as their leader I should help. Maybe I'll scheme with Maddy later.'_ He smiles at the thought.

Vida sighs. Nick looks with sympathy, considering that both him and Maddy were in the same boat. That sigh did remind him of Madison's sigh. Maybe that sigh conveyed feelings of hoping to confess but worried about not having those feelings reciprocated.

"You know that sigh does sound like Madison's." He could have said more but felt that he shouldn't.

"Oh." Vida looks embarrassed. She heard her sister sigh a lot and it always seemed to do with Nick. She could see the implications.

"Yeah. I think it's because of me" He grins smugly. He was going to leave it at that.

"You wish." Vida tries to deny but knows the truth.

"Alright. Well then. Let's go check out the city and make sure the others are back." Vida nods.

Time skip

The Rocca sisters just got back to their home from work and ranger duties. After talking a bit with their parents, they both decide to go sleep.

As they're both brushing their teeth, Vida looks over to her sister. She smirks, "Did Nick like the wintergreen yesterday?"

Madison quickly spits out whatever was in her mouth. She stammers a bit, " I don't think he noticed." _'_ _Not that I blame him. It was only mentioned during the time I turned into a statue.'_

"Well, I told him about it." She said nonchalantly.

"Vida…. Did he remember?" She whines a bit. _'_ _Great. Just great."_

"Even better. He told me the whole story. He says you're a wild one when he finished." Vida grins.

Madison groans. _'_ _Great. Now I'm gonna get teased by Nick and my sister. Hm, didn't Nick mention he had an adopted sister. Maybe I should meet her to get some dirt on Nick.'_

Seeing her sister's displeasure, Vida decides to comfort her a little bit, "You know. He really does like you." Madison looks at her sister wondering how she knew that. "We spent a good majority of the time talking about you."

She groans at that. "Let me guess, you dragged him to your favorite but secret hobby, making fun of me."

Vida laughs. "We only joked about the toothpaste change. But seriously, when we talked about you, he looked pretty happy."

Madison finished brushing her teeth. She nods. Normally she would be skeptical, but with recent events, it does seem that Nick does care for her a lot.

Vida continues, as if a little jealous. "I'm serious. He's a guy who really sees you as the amazing person that I am always telling you that you are. You're really lucky Madison."

Noticing a hint of jealousy, Madison asks. "Is that why you were angry at him? You kind of wish you have a guy yourself." _'_ _We're not really dating. And she has Chip if only they both actually said something.'_

"A little bit." Vida confessed. "Listen. I'm not going to steal him away from you. I just wish -"

"Wish you had someone waiting for you too." Madison interrupts, understanding the predicament and her sister's feelings.

Vida adds, "Yeah. I heard him play Vindicated, and I knew that was the theme for Spider-Man 2. From what you told me yesterday, that's kind of the movie you guys plan on watching when you guys finally go on a date. For him to play that, shows he really does care about you and he might be looking forward to it. I guess I was angry about that."

' _So my sister does have a soft side after all.'_ "I understand. Unfortunately, we both decided not to date until all of this is over. Which doesn't seem like a while." She finishes sadly. _'_ _Still wouldn't hurt if he showed me some affection now and then even though we're not dating.'_ "But at least me and Nick don't have to act awkwardly around each other anymore. We're just waiting." She added.

"I see." Vida says sullenly. She sighs. "I wish I had someone waiting for me too."

Seeing her sister's insecurities for once and hearing that sigh that sounded awfully familiar to her, Madison decides to mention this. "You know. I think Chip likes you." _'_ _Maybe I should ask Nick for help with this.'_ She smiles at the thought.

"Really? Man you and Nick think alike." Vida says as if it's a fact.

She laughs. _'_ _Well. Nick told me and I couldn't help but agree. I guess I should tell her as a thank you to Chip for helping me out with Nick. If Chip didn't tell me about what happened, I probably would have believed Nick lying to me.'_ "Well, Chip went with you to the woods before we were rangers. I think it was to protect you. He volunteered after you did. Also, he saved you when you were a vampire. He even knew you were a vampire before I even noticed." She adds the last part guiltily.

Vida shakes her head. "I think he did that as a friend." However, there was a hint of excitement in her voice.

Madison laughs. _'_ _Wow. This is really familiar.'_ "Keep telling yourself that. Good night sis."

"Night sis." Vida says happily.

Madison reflects the events that happened today. She was worried when she saw Vida yell at Nick, fearing that the important people in her life wouldn't get along. After this recent conversation, she realized it was a matter of jealousy and protection. She smiles. _'_ _Nice to know I have good friends and an awesome sister. Now all that's left is someone I want to spend the rest of my life with but I got a good feeling about it.'_

Chapter Finish

Alright, this chapter was definitely fun to write though and I liked another character being more involved after writing so much Nick and Madison's perspective. This chapter also closes some elements that's been mentioned that I wanted to include. (Vida from Rock solid and the wintergreen from Rock solid,light, and hunter, Vida and Chip/setup from Stranger Within)

Haha, I wonder how many of you guys actually noticed the peppermint and wintergreen. It was mentioned a couple times in the story.

[1] Written in Light - Self-Confidence Part 2. The scene specifically was the almost kiss.

[2] Written in Hunter - Vindicated. I wrote that he enjoyed the hint of wintergreen from her breath.

Also a part written was, Madison remembered his words, "Yeah. She's a wild one." She remembered being teased about being wild about the change in toothpaste. The hints were there.

Please leave a review, question, or comment.

Up next, Mystic Fate Part 1. Mystic Fate has a lot to write about and will take time. Hope you guys are looking forward to it.


	13. Mystic Fate I- Confrontation

Mystic Fate 1 - Confrontation

Disclaimer: I'm getting tired of putting this, but I don't own the Power Rangers.

Thanks for the views and comments.

We're getting close to the end.

I guess no one liked the wintergreen element that I added. I don't regret it but I thought it was cute. Thought you guys would think it was cute too. Ah well.

To some questions,

Greatest Pink Ranger. I don't know, all of them are pretty equal. None of them did anything spectacular in t.v. that I remember. Real lifewise, the actress that played Kat. She actually realizes the importance of being a positive role model to her fans. I would say she's probably the greatest because she's willing to come to comic-con and talk to her fans. The actress who plays Kimberly hasn't really appeared on comic cons as much even though she has a large fan base and is busy.

I like the Power Rangers because it was nice to watch growing up. It really appealed to me as a kid. Fighting bad guys, doing good, and having powers, that's all cool. Now, meh doesn't appeal as much. I in a sense moved on from watching it. Now, I just like making certain parts of the story better. That's why I write fanfiction.

I won't be angry if they made it Jason and Kim in the movie. It is a pairing that could happen, makes sense, and could work. How many times have we seen the red ranger with the pink ranger? Besides, they're different actors and it's a different story, considering it's the reboot. Don't let the show influence you about the movie. (If it was like Jason and Kim in the show, then yes, that's weird because there was nothing written between them)

Anyways on to the story, assume in-canon events before story. Leanbow and Udonna are back. Leelee is part of the team now (even though she's been mentioned once). Clare and Daggeron still exist (somewhere….)

Mystic Fate - Confrontation

"normal conversation _"_

 _'thoughts'_

" **Flashback conversation** _ **"**_

" _ **Flashback thoughts"**_

Mystic Fate - Confrontation

Nick was out dueling with his father. It seemed that he was getting stronger. Maybe strong enough to fight the Master..

' _Now that the Master is back. We should strike. I'm ready.'_

He began voicing his concerns, "Father, we should begin fighting the Master and not waste our time training."

"You're not ready."

"But I am."

"Prove it."

After a couple minutes, he lost, Leanbow said "There. You're not ready. You don't fully realize the power of dark magic."

Nick looks away. _'_ _But I know I'm ready.'_ Unfortunately, he didn't know how unprepared he was.

Time Skip

The rangers minus Nick go through a destroyed village in the mystic realm.

"What happened here?" Madison asked.

"Shoo go away!" says one of the villagers.

"We don't want you here," yells one of the other villagers

The rangers look confused. Xander speaks out, "But we're the mystic force."

"Leave us! Humans do not belong here. You destroyed our homes and our crops. You -" the same villager stops abruptly. He sees someone in the distance.

The rangers look back and see Nick. They smile, thinking their leader will help diffuse the situation.

However, they only heard "The Destroyer has returned."

Confused, Leanbow says "The Destroyer? You got that wrong. That's my son." The rangers nod to follow along.

Madison thinks, _'_ _What's going on? Why are they afraid of Nick?'_ She sees an uncharacteristic smirk on Nick. _'_ _That's not like Nick at all.'_ She looks at the villagers who began to cower. She begins to worry.

"Like father like son."

' _That doesn't sound like Nick at all.'_ She gasps when Nick began glowing purple. _'_ _What happened?'_

"You guys missed the show. And I'm just getting started" Nick blasts Lianbow.

"Run!" Yelled the villagers.

Nick laughs. He changes into a familiar purple knight's armor.

' _Nick, no._ _He has to be under some sort of mind control like his father was.'_

The rest of the rangers look on in horror, paralyzed by the sudden events their leader becoming Koragg.

"The master's dark magic has given me more power than I ever dreamed of! I can't believe you gave it up!"

"Bowen, you have to fight this!" His father responded, ready to fight.

"I'm here to destroy you and the mystic rangers." The two then engage in battle. Nick teleports the two away.

"Where did they go?" Udonna asks out loud.

Madison is stunned about what just happened, unable to move. _'_ _What happened to Nick?'_

Xander yells, "Everyone let's get the villagers out! They'll be back soon." He gestures to the team. Chip and Vida begin to move out to help.

Just as everyone except Madison begin to help evacuate everyone, Nick teleports back with Leanbow falling to the ground. The rangers see this and run to help the unconscious Leanbow. However, Nick traps them all except Madison who hadn't moved from her spot.

"I'll deal with you all later." Nick threatens. The ones trapped protest. He approaches Leanbow ready to deal the final blow. "This is the end."

"No it's not." A voice cries out.

Nick turns around and sees Madison morphed in her legendary form. Madison casts a water spell that causes Nick to fall down.

As he gets back up, "I guess it's your end first then." He says emotionlessly.

"Come on Nick. It's me." Madison cries out to hope he remembers. _'_ _I have to protect the others if I have to'_

"Yes I know. Blue ranger." He says with hatred. He blasts a spell at her, which caught her off guard.

' _That can't be Nick. It has to be an impostor or someone controlling him. He would have said my name. He wouldn't have blasted me.'_ She winces in pain from the damage she just took. _'_ _Shoot, he's coming now'_ Nick begins to charge at her. Madison gets ready to defend herself.

As Nick reaches her, she prepares to swing her staff only for him to jump over her. As he lands, he quickly tries to cut her in half. His sword was quickly blocked by her staff.

However, both of her hands were occupied holding the staff. Nick chooses to capitalize on this and trips her. Before he could strike again, Madison rolls out of the way. She gets up. Nick lunges forward only for her to sidestep. She strikes him on his back.

As Nick gives a grunt of pain, Madison looks shocked, realizing she hurt Nick. She begins to hesitate.

Seizing this moment of weakness, Nick slashes her shoulder. As she falls, he quickly disarms her. Weaponless, she put her hands up as if to surrender.

"You let down your guard blue ranger. You are weak." He motions for her to stand up.

' _It's not really Nick. It's not really Nick.'_ She tries to tell herself but all she could do was imagine him smiling. She stands up considering what to do.

"Any last words." He says as he prepares to slash her to deliver the final blow.

She closes her eyes and thinks back to the time that helped Leanbow become good again. _'_ _I have to help him fight this. I have to make him remember me.'_ She demorphs.

"What are you doing sis!" Vida screams protectively.

"Bowen, don't hurt her!" Udonna yells worriedly.

"It's me. It's Madison." She says hesitantly. _'_ _Come on Nick. Please remember.'_ She was more worried about him than she was about herself even though she might get killed soon.

"Madison?" he questioned. He begins hesitating but doesn't lower the sword.

"Yes. Remember me?" She approaches to him. _'_ _It seems that it does work. Maybe if I get closer.'_

"Stop. Don't move. You wasted your breath." He swings the sword down.

"No!" The rangers scream worried for their teammate.

Madison closes her eyes bracing for the impact. It never came. She opens her eyes.

Nick's sword was about an inch away from her. She looks at Nick. He was having second thoughts. He raises his sword one more time and prepares to strike again.

Not wanting to risk it again, Madison embraces Nick.

"Come on Nick. Remember me. It's me, Madison. I know you're in there. Come back to me." She says. She whispers to him, "I love you, Nick."

A flood of memories come back to him. Their first meeting. Their friendly banter. Their private conversations away from the team. Hidden messages. Her encouragement. Their first kiss.

"Maddy." He says, remembering her now. She smiles, knowing it worked. She lets go and steps back.

Nick demorphs. The Master's dark magic leaves him, laughing evilly. The rangers, in shock and fear, realize the Master took control over him. They helplessly watch the dark shadow leave.

Madison cries out to him, "Nick!" Nick was writhing in pain from what had transpired. He was about to fall over. She quickly catches him.

Feeling her warm embrace, Nick looks to her and weakly says, "I'm sorry Maddy… I couldn't help what I was doing. I now understand what my dad went through." Maddy smiles, remembering their previous conversation about his dad.

"I'm just glad you're back." She hugs him tighter even though it hurt her. She was sure her shoulder had a bruise. [1]

Back at Rootcore

Nick was lying on his bed recovering from whatever the dark magic did to him and his body. He noticed only Madison was in the room, sitting in a chair nearby. He sighed he didn't really want to be in a room alone with her right now.

He was worried he might attack her again. He wasn't sure of himself anymore. He couldn't control himself until Madison saved him.

He looks at Madison and sees her nursing her shoulder.

' _I did that.'_ He winces. He couldn't believe he actually hurt her. He had a sneaking feeling that there was a large bruise forming.

Maddy notices the concerned look and stops nursing her shoulder. She stands up. "It's not your fault Nick. It was the Master controlling you." She says the last part unsure. _'_ _It wasn't really you.'_

"Still, I hurt you. I remember Madison." He closes his eyes. "I remember it all. I blasted you around your shoulder. I then hacked you at your shoulder. You took all of that." He says guiltily. _'_ _How could I do such a thing?'_

Madison looks away, knowing it was true.

He gets up a bit. "How can you say that you love me when I hurt you like that? You could have been killed." He looks away, not able to look at her. _'_ _I can't look at her when I almost killed her.'_

Sensing his fears, Madison uncharacteristically shouts, "But you didn't." She was getting angry that he was getting depressed by this. She also felt that she needed to believe what she said herself.

He answers back heatedly. "I could have killed you. Are you sure you're in love with me?"

She hesitates at first but cries "Yes!" She looks at him with a mix of compassion and uncertainty.

"I don't see why. All I've done for you was get you turned to a statue and hurt you. I even declined to be in a relationship with you." Nick was just saying whatever came to his mind.

"First, you saved me after I was turned into a statue. It wasn't fully your fault. And we both decided" she emphasized the last three words, "that a relationship wouldn't work out because of ranger duties and the danger we would both be in." _'_ _Even though it feels that we're kind of dating now. Now, it's complicated.'_ She was wondering what was going on with both of them right now.

Nick says, "You sure you want to still be in a relationship with me. I'm the one who hurtyou."

She pauses and sighs. "I don't know." She said that part sadly. "I don't know if I can trust you right now."

She leaves, wanting to deal with her emotions.

She opens the door and sees Udonna who had heard part of the conversation. Udonna looks at her. She ignores Udonna and walks out of Rootcore. Udonna glimpses at Nick and quickly follows after Madison. She knew it would be better to leave Nick alone.

Nick looks at the door. He sighs, considering the implications of Madison leaving him.

' _I guess we didn't have a chance to make this relationship work. I messed up pretty bad. It's my fault.'_

Her last few words echoed in his mind.

" **I don't know if I can trust you right now."**

' _I don't think I even trusted myself from the beginning. You were the one who made me believe in myself. Now, I lost you and your trust in me.'_

An earlier thought appeared to him.

' _ **I don't see a**_ _**reason to stay if we're not together.' [2]**_

Realizing the implications, he shakes his head.

He wasn't ready to fight the Master after all.

Chapter Finish

[1] Yep, the scene of Madison hugging Nick is kind of me respecting of King for a Day in Power Ranger Zeo when Kat actually turns Tommy good again. Just a personal homage.

[2] Written in Heir Apparent II - Family

The Nick as Koragg scene was definitely something I looked forward to writing. But, hey, there's a lot in Mystic Fate to write about.

As you can guess, the next chapter is Udonna talking to Madison (something I mentioned in Heir Apparent). I'm kind of thinking of writing 3 or 4 more chapters about the last two episodes. We'll see what happens next after that ;)

Also, notice that Nick's confidence is at a low again. He became evil for a bit and hurt his "girlfriends". That's a lot of things to make him discouraged to think he lost his "girlfriend." I hope you guys know where I'm going with this. If not, it will all connect with what happened in the story already and what will happen ;)

Leave a review and thoughts.


	14. Mystic Fate I - Motherly Advice

Mystic Fate 1 - Motherly Advice

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own the power rangers.

AN: Wow, I've been really busy this past week and will continue to be busy for the next 2 weeks.

I hope everyone is doing well and will continue reading the story. I'm not done, just busy right now. I don't plan on giving up, so please be patient.

Please leave a helpful review or comments!

Onto the story.

Mystic Fate 1 - Motherly Advice

"normal conversation"

 _'thoughts'_

" **Flashback conversation"**

Madison had left Rootcore and found a log outside to sit on. She needed space. She was frustrated with Nick's attitude.

' _I can't believe Nick is angry at himself. It'll be fine.'_ However, as she thought that, she couldn't help but sound unsure. That was her biggest problem right now.

A fear came up. _'_ _It happened once. It could happen again.'_ She was hoping that fear was wrong even though she believed it.

"Madison?" She looks around and saw Udonna. Madison quickly became worried. She sighs hoping Udonna wasn't sent by Nick. Udonna smiles, "Can I join you?"

Madison pauses and nods.

Udonna studies the blue ranger as she sits down. The similarities between her and Madison were there. She smiles. "You know Madison. I know what you're going through. You want to talk about it?"

Madison knows what she's referring to. She also remembered that it seemed that Udonna knew about her feelings toward her son. However, she doesn't respond.

Udonna took her silence as a yes. "Koragg, under the control of the Master, hurt me and took my powers away." She began carefully. She pauses, making sure every word she said was carefully thought out. "When I found out Koragg was Leanbow, I was both happy and sad. Happy to find out my husband was alive. Sad to know he did such a thing to me." She pauses.

Madison nods in sympathy. She was definitely experiencing something like that.

She continues. "How could someone who I married hurt me like that?" She asks out loud for Madison to ponder.

' _That's exactly what I'm thinking. - Well, we're not married but still, there was something between us.'_

"However, I moved on from that. Not only because of the Master's influence but also because of something. Do you know what it is?" Udonna interrupts and looks at Madison hopefully.

Madison had a feeling what the answer was. She shook her head however.

"Love. Love lets you forgive and trust again. It's why I forgave Leanbow."

Madison looks away, understanding the point but not wanting to accept it.

Udonna chuckles. "Listen, we never talked about how you felt about my son, but it's pretty clear. You care about him a lot. I heard what you said." She looks at the blue ranger expectantly as if to say it again.

Madison blushes but says. "I'm not so sure anymore." However, she felt that she was lying to herself when she said that.

"It's there. You do love my son."

Realizing Udonna knew of her feelings, she asked "Do you approve of me?" She couldn't help but feel that she needed her approval and blessing even though she wasn't sure about her relationship with Nick right now.

"Yes. I do." Udonna replied without hesitation.

Confused, Madison asks, "Why?"

' _Well. It's nice being approved by my sort of boyfriend's mom. But why does she like me?'_

"You actually remind me of how I used to be."

Madison laughs at that. She took it as a compliment. "Really. I find that hard to believe. You're a powerful sorceress." _'_ _I guess she really likes me if she compliments me like that.'_

Udonna laughs. "Before I became a powerful sorceress, I used to be a timid bookworm who didn't trust in herself that much. I only stood up for my friends and what I believed was right. Kind of like you." Udonna smiles at Madison.

Madison looks away. "I don't believe that." _'_ _Udonna's one of the strongest people I know.'_

Udonna chuckles. "Trust me. I was like that. I doubted myself a lot." Madison noticed a certain tone when she said that and felt that she was telling the truth. It was a tone that carried some weight.

"I see." _'_ _I wonder if I'll ever be confident in myself.'_ She wonders.

Udonna looks at Madison. "You know, I'm happy to know that Bowen picked someone like his mother." They both laugh at that.

She continues "Besides, you love my son and my son loves you. You're like his confidant. Just like I was Leanbow's. Trust me, Leanbow told me a lot about the stress of leading the mystics."

Madison looks skeptically. "Leanbow seems pretty confident. He is the greatest warrior in the mystic realm." _'_ _Great, now it seems that all these people I think are strong are actually really weak.'_

Udonna laughs. "Yes. Well, Nick is like his father. They both look pretty confident but when it gets tough or they mess up, they lose faith in their skills. They just need someone to believe in them time after time. Trust me, Leanbow has his moments too. He needs a nudge" She smiles fondly, knowing that Leanbow was secretly insecure when they were younger.

Madison nods. _'_ _Now that I think about it, Nick is easily discouraged.'_

Udonna continues. "If Nick is like Leanbow, he's probably insecure about hurting people again. He needs someone who can trust him and that will restore his confidence. He needs his confidence if he needs to lead the rangers." She looks expectantly at her.

She sighs. "I don't know if I can." _'_ _After what he did, it's kind of tough.'_

Udonna starts to speak more sternly. "Madison, trust him."

She contemplates those words. It was hard after he hurt her. However, in her mind, an incident pops up when the rangers accused Nick of stealing the money and Nick heard voices in his head. She reminisces parts of their conversation afterward.

" **Let's trust each other more." [1]**

As she finished reminiscing, she smiles. She forgot about that promise she made with Nick. She responds, " I will." _'_ _I trust him. He hasn't hurt me intentionally and won't ever do that.'_

Udonna smiles; her work was done. "You know he wouldn't intentionally hurt you."

Madison smiles at that; it was as if she read her mind. "Yeah, I know that now.." She hugs Udonna appreciatively.

"I don't think I could ask for a better daughter-in-law."

Madison blushes. "I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon." Udonna laughs.  
Suddenly, Madison's morpher goes off. "I need to get going. The terrors are in the surface world."

"I'm going with you." Udonna knew the rangers were going to need help. Madison nods, ready to fight this time.

Chapter End

[1] Whispering Voices- Self-Doubt

This was tough to write due to lack of time and busy with work. All of those even caused me to have a bit of writer's block. But now, I'm back.

Alright, I think I set up the next chapter.

Please leave a helpful review or comments! Thanks for reading.


	15. Mystic Fate 2- Hope Renewed

Chapter Mystic Fate 2 - Hope Renewed

Wow, sorry for not updating for a while. I've been busy with work and that kind of made me lose track of this.

I can say I'm back now. I'm motivated to continue writing this story (because I'm planning another fanfic and want to finish this one before I actually start writing it). Do expect slow updates because I have a lot of projects that need to be done (for work and some other hobbies.)

Here comes the story.

Mystic Fate 2 - Hope Renewed

It wasn't looking good for the rangers. Although, they had finished off the terrors, the Master came in to fight them. He was much stronger than the other. The rangers just lost their fight against the Master and lost their zord power.

The rangers demorphed.

Before the Master could fight them again, Xander hurriedly says "Come on." He ushers the rangers into a cave to regroup and plan what to do next.

Chip, relieved, says "Alright, we're safe."

Nick rolled his eyes. He retorts. "Safe. are you kidding me. That thing destroyed our zord, not to mention Daggeron and my dad." Unable to voice the fear he felt, he looked away at the floor which a certain blue ranger noticed.

Madison gulps. _'_ _Is he still feeling guilty about what happened earlier?'_ She remembers telling Udonna she was ok with it, but now in front of Nick…

It was hard for her to voice that she forgave him what he did as Koragg.

Aware of the implications what Nick had said, Vida says, "So that's it. The great Nick, the red ranger," with emphasis,"is calling it quits."

Nick looks and doesn't answer.

Xander, not willing to let him go so easily, stops him. "Whoa. No. Don't walk away. Answer her." He says the next part uncertainly, "Are you giving up?"

Nick pauses. He says, "Get out of my way."

Shocked at the response, Madison felt her fears were confirmed.

"No, Nick you answer that." Chip said angrily at the implications.

Nick sighs, "Guys. Wake up and smell the darkness. We've failed. We're no match for that." He pauses a bit.

' _The power of darkness was much stronger than I expected. I couldn't even fight it when it took control of me.'_

He sighs. "Fine. Yes, I've given up." The entire team is shocked and looks dejected except one member.

Madison is shocked and thinks, _'_ _No. He can't say that. Just because he's failed, he can do this.'_

She begins to voice her thoughts. "Don't you say that. Don't you say that, not you!" She begins to walk up to Nick. The rest of the team is surprised by her outburst.

Meanwhile, Nick looks in shock and in guilt that of all the members of the team, it was Madison who stood up.

' _Of all the people, why must it be the one I hurt the most?'_

As she approaches him, she begins to point at him. "You have held us together through all of this. You will not give up!"

He shakes his head and looks away thinking about what had just happened. _'_ _How can you say that I held the team together when I just hurt you as Koragg and almost betrayed the team?'_

"Listen to me!" She says frustrated.

' _What must I say to get you to believe in yourself.'_ She remembers Udonna's advice for trust and encouragement.

Forced, Nick guiltily looks at her.

"Giving up is not an option for you! We are a team and you are this team's leader! We go on no matter what!" She gives him a pleading look. She whispers "I still believe in you."

The last words echoed in his being. It erased something that was said earlier between him and Madison.

" **I don't know if I can trust you right now." [1]**

Nick looked at Madison, realizing how much she still trusted him. It seems that she would continue to believe in him just as she had done from the beginning. Whether it was to believe in magic or to become a power ranger, she always seemed to believe in him when he didn't believe in himself.

He looks away, contemplating this. Hearing that made him feel good.

" **Your encouragement is important to the team. It's important to me."** _ **[2]**_

He chuckles a bit laughing at that. That statement still held true. He always needed someone to believe in him. That is why he loved her.

Contemplating the last words that Madison said, he realized that there might be a hidden meaning in it. If she believed in him, she trusted him. Maybe, she might still love him.

He looks again to Madison, nodding that he wasn't going to give up anymore. He also looks at her with appreciation.

She smiles as if to say no problem. She focuses at him again to not doubt herself.

Suddenly, the Master appeared. "It is time to finish this. Welcome to your end." He threatened them all.

However, Nick looked at the Master straight in the eye. He was ready to fight this time.

Chapter End

[1] This quote is from Mystic Fate 1 - Confrontation. This was said when they got in a fight last chapter.

[2] This quote is from his almost confession in my version of The Light.

If you want, you could reread the previous chapters. I did edit some grammar mistakes for some clarity. No major changes.

It's good to be back.

Please leave a review!


	16. Mystic Fate 2 - Finale

Chapter Mystic Fate 2 Finale

Disclaimer: Nope. I don't own the Power Rangers.

Warning: Huge change from mood last chapter.

Ya, the last scene was quite intense. But I wrote this fanfic to focus on the relationship between Nick and Madison.

If you want to know what happens after the Master came, basically it's what happened in canon.

In canon: Nick combines his magic with the other rangers to hurt the Master. It doesn't work as planned and they are brought to the surface world. Before the Master can destroy them, the rangers reunite with Udonna, Leanbow, Daggeron, Jenji, and everyone in the city and the mythical realm to combine their magic to defeat him for good.

This is the end to the main storyline.

Mystic Fate 2 - Finale

Rock Porium

There was a party at Rock Porium to celebrate the rangers defeating the Master once and for all. The mystical inhabitants were also there to celebrate.

Normally, the employees would be focused on the party running smoothly. However, when everyone found out the employees were the power rangers. They were allowed to also join the celebration and relax.

However, not every ranger was at the party as a particular blue ranger anxiously noticed.

Madison was looking around for Nick. She was hoping that they could officially start dating now that their ranger duty was over.

Unfortunately, she couldn't find him. She was going to ask around if anyone had seen him.

The closest person she found who might know was Toby. She smiled. _'_ _Maybe Nick told him where he was. This party is kind of mandatory for all of us to be here. Nick must have told him it was something important.'_

"Hey Toby!" She exclaims. She giggled when she saw him talking to Leelee's mom.

"Hey Madison! What can I do for you?" Toby responds.

"Sorry to interrupt, but do you know where Nick is? I haven't seen him." She asks. She didn't care what Toby thought. She had been told that he kind of knew there was something going on between them two.

"I don't know where he is exactly. But he's not here because he told me he was going to meet up with his adopted family first. I told him yeah go for it."

Inwardly, her heart shrank.

' _I didn't think he would leave without saying good-bye. What if he never comes back?'_

She reminisced words from their previous conversations.

" **I usually don't stay around long enough to have friends" [1]**

 **"Does finding your family here make you want to stay here?" [2]**

" **Looks like you finally found your groove at Briarwood" [3]**

' _I really thought he would stay. He found his friends and family. Even after what he said recently today.'_

 **Flashback**

The Master had finished threatening to destroy them all. Jenji had advised everyone to run away.

But Nick responds, **"** **I'm through running."** He turns to Udonna. **"** **I've found my real family."** He took the time to appreciate he found his family at Briarwood.

It made Madison happy to hear him say that.

It didn't just stop there.

He turns to Madison as if say this part directly to her. **"** **I've found my home. No more running." [4]**

 **End Flashback**

She closes her eyes. _'_ _When he said that, I was happy. He finally considered Briarwood as a home to stay. I have to find him before he's gone.'_

"Thanks Toby."

Toby nods and raises his hand. "No problem." He looked back to Necrolai to smirk about something.

Wishing she had the same luck that Toby had, Madison quickly rushes outside hoping to call Nick or find him.

Luckily, she sees him by the tree with his bike.

She smiles fondly.

' _It's just like that time when I talked to him the first time.'_

She begins to approach him again.

As she approaches, she notices what he's wearing. He's wearing a white jacket with blue and red stripes.[5] She looks questionably as to see what it could possibly mean.

"You're leaving." She asks him. It wasn't a question.

He grins a bit. "I'm meeting up with my adopted parents and sister. There's a lot to tell them."

"So you're not coming back." She says, realizing the implications and that she was actually wrong about him considering Briarwood as home.

"I didn't say that." He smirks a little.

"You are coming back." She breathes a sigh of relief.

He pauses, choosing his next words carefully. "What I'm saying is that - uh - I would like to come back if there was something or someone" He pauses and looks directly at her before finishing "to come back to. "

' _There. I'm just going to see how she responds. Does she still want me back?'_

"Oh. There is." Madison immediately replied with excitement in her voice. She smiles. She immediately felt self-conscious about the situation. She didn't really want to seem like she should interfere with Nick's family by herself.

"There's Xander, Vida, Chip, Toby, Phineas, Leelee, and um... " She had looked and Nick and noticed he didn't look interested in the names that she listed. That encouraged her. She gives a deep breath.

"Me" She hesitates a bit, but Nick had looked directly at her. She couldn't help but continue.

"I want you to come back for me."

' _There. I said it.'_

Nick smiles at her, happy to hear that.

He decides to clarify something. "I'm actually staying." much to the surprise of Madison.

' _I do consider my home to be with you after all.'_ He didn't want to voice that part to her yet.

He continues saying, "I'm meeting up with-."

"Nick!"

The pair looked and saw a pretty blonde female wearing a pink shirt wave to them.

Nick smiled and waved back while Madison looked confused and started to feel jealous.

' _Who is she? A fangirl who is only after him because he's a power ranger?'_

The blonde walked over and asked, "Well Nick, are you going to introduce me to your friend?" She said it in an Australian and teasing tone which only seemed to hurt Madison even more. Madison realized there was some hidden intimacy between the two.

Nick laughs. "Well Madison, meet Katherine Russell, my adopted sister."

' _Oh… nevermind.'_ Madison felt embarrassed now for rushing to conclusions.

"Katherine meet Madison Rocca. She's -"

"Your girlfriend?" Katherine interrupts.

Madison and Nick looked at each other to question it. Madison however broke eye contact and spontaneously nodded. She began to look at the ground unable to see both of the Russell siblings now because of the embarrassment. Nick looks in shock and remembers what he said describing her.

" **You're too shy to put it out there."**

Even though that wasn't a direct confession, he knows it was hard for Madison to admit that again spontaneously. He chuckled.

 _'Guess you're not too too shy to put it out there after all. And you are definitely spontaneous.'_

Nick vocally confirms. "Yeah. Maddy's my girlfriend." He smiles after saying it. It felt nice to finally vocalize it.

Katherine smiles, "I'm glad you found someone here Nick." She looks at Madison more closely to study her. Madison looks back at her while playing with her hair. "I approve. She kind of reminds me of me in some ways. I'm happy you chose a girlfriend that resembles your sister." She extends her hand to shake with Madison.

Nick laughs, knowing how true it was. His sister was one of the most considerate, thoughtful, encouraging, and compassionate people he ever met. Those traits described Madison the most.

Madison looked a little clueless about it. Katherine seemed too vocal compared to her. Nevertheless, she shook hands with Kat. She could tell she would get along great with her.

Nick continues. "It's true. She's awesome just like my sis. I wanted to tell you a lot of things that happened recently. But when are mom and dad coming?"

However, Kat ignored him and looked at Madison. She asked. "So are you the real reason why my baby brother is so busy working at Rock Porium? I've been meaning to visit but I'm busy teaching ballet."[7]

Madison laughs while Nick groans. It seemed that both of them remembered Nick's first day helping Leelee. "Yeah." Madison tells her. She giggles thinking about it.

"Please tell me. I'm surprised that my brother got a job here. He never wanted to stay in one place." Katherine looked a bit excited to know more.

Madison smiled and looked at Nick. Nick saw that look. It was a hidden message that he knew after spending so much time with her.

He groaned. As his sister and girlfriend began chatting away, he looked around. He realized how fitting it was to be at this tree.

It was here where he began his first real talk with Madison. It was here where he confessed his lack of real friends, family, and home. Now, he officially had it all here.

He definitely appreciated the first talk that started his interactions with Madison.

End of the main story

[1] Nick says this in Broken Spell

[2] My version of Heir Apparent II

[3] Madison says this in Hunter

[4] Nick actually says this in Mystic Fate II

[5] If you look at the scene again. The white jacket actually has a noticeable streak of blue and red. We know that rangers wear their signature colors predominantly. What do you guys think that means if Nick is wearing some blue? ;)

[6] It was planned from the very beginning that Nick was going to stay in Briarwood. I just like teasing people that he might leave.

In my opinion, if the relationship between Madison and Nick went deeper in the show, Nick would have stayed. It's just the most logical thing to do because of this change.

[7] In case you didn't realize it by then, Nick's adopted sister is based off of Kat Hillard, the 2nd MMPR, zeo, 1st turbo pink ranger. She had an Australian accent and was a ballet dancer. Why did I choose her instead of other people? It was because she's Australian and the MF cast all have Australian accents. Nick's sister as Kat Hillard was thought of since around 4th chapter.

This plot device is kind of meant to introduce my future plans of a fanfic series. The fanfic series is essentially rangers give advice to a team of power rangers. Example the zeo rangers give advice to the 2nd turbo/space rangers. Tommy can call friends to give advice to the Dino Thunder team. Katherine (because she's Nick's sister in my universe) can give advice to the Mystic force team while also asking for friends to come visit to also give advice. There will be romance, real life, friendship focus.

I don't plan on doing every team. (That's too hard for me) But maybe there will be chance encounters.

For those curious I called why I called this story Hidden Interactions is because of interactions mean a reciprocal action, effect, or influence. For Madison, it was a matter of changing her to be more vocal and for Nick it was a matter of him finding a home, friends, and family and encouragement. I would say that was the influence each had on the other. Hidden because it's not so obvious as I planned out the story.

I would say the main story of this fanfic is done. Now are a bunch of oneshots/ ideas I would like to put to follow this storyline. It is considered complete. The UPDATES that come afterward are RANDOM and should have no influence on the overall story.

Please leave a review and thanks for reading!


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